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V The Canadian Statesman, liowmanville. January 11. 1983 Sf)e Canabtan Statesman 623-3303 Durham County's Great Family Journal d 134 y 34 years ajjo i [nc6rpor~'--" 1 1854. Established 1 Also Thc&poratihg 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 St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 JOHN Editor M. JAMES --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 ol the publishers. $20.00 a year -- 6 months $11.00 foreign -- $60.00 a year strictly in advance Allhough every precaulion will be taken lo avoid error. The Canadian Stalesman 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 ol such advertisement is requested in writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Stalesman business ollice 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 not corrected by The Canadian Statesman its liability shall,not exceed such a portion ol the entire cost ol such adverlisemenl as Ihe space occupied by Ihe noted error bears to Ihe whole space Occupied by such advertisement. Comment Transit System Headaches I There are indications that the Town of Newcastle will consider ways in which it can bolster the town's public transit services during the next few years. . Although public transit is one topic which deserves some consideration, let's hope that such discussions do not result in a decision to implement any kind of full-blown public transit network network having a fleet of buses, drivers, and regular routes throughout the town. As we understand it, almost every E ublic transit facility runs on some ind of deficit. Therefore, such a system system would be too costly in the Town of Newcastle - especially when one considers the size of this municipality. municipality. Furthermore, it's doubtful that a public transit network in the Town of Newcastle would see any sort of extensive extensive use. People who have moved to this community know that public transit is almost non-existent. Therefore, they use their own cars for transportation, Even if they had the option of taking a bus, they would not likely do so. Although Newcastle should not consider leaping into a major program program of public transportation, there are a few improvements which could be made. For one thing, the town ought to lobby lobby for a speedy extension of tlie GO Train to east Oshawa. (And the Town Council has already done so in the past.) Council must also think seri- ously about extending the GO bus route to Newcastle Village and possibly possibly up Highway 115/35 to Orono. While we're probably decades away from any sort of permanent bus service in Bowmanville, it may not be too early to consider special purpose purpose transit. For example, if there were a major event going on at the Bowmanville Recreation Centre, there may be a need to develop a shuttle bus system that would take riders downtown and to the Bowmanville Mall for that day only. There's an existing Handi- Transit service for those who require wheelchairs in order to be independent. independent. But, perhaps that specialized service could be expanded to meet the growing number of senior citizens in this community. In short, urban transit should certainly certainly be one of the areas to which Newcastle council should devote its attention. But the focus should be'on improving improving some of the existing transportation transportation services rather than embarking on a major investment in urban transit. transit. When it comes to expenditures, Newcastle Council has a long list of areas having a higher priority. Some of these include: (in no particular particular order) increased full-time fire protection, better library facilities, facilities, renovations to the arts centre, better streetlighting and roads, more sidewalks, improvements in park facilities, facilities, and better parking downtown. downtown. Given a list like that on the public agenda, one can see that although public transit should not be ignored, it cannot truly be considered a top priority. priority. Deregulation Seems to Work Air travellers in Canada should be saying prayers of thanks for airline deregulation. It has produced better and cheaper service which is available available to more people. Joining Air Canada on many new routes are Canadian and Ward Air, two smaller but very aggressive airlines. airlines. Now that the Air Canada monopoly monopoly on certain lucrative travel routes has been removed to encourage competition, a price war has ensued along with a bonanza of new promotional promotional goodies which Canadians are lining up to cash in on. All three airlines are investing heavily in new airplanes and are working hard to attract new customers customers who may never have considered flying before. For its part, Air Canada Canada is expanding its international service service so much that in three years its international international business will outpace its domestic operation. All three airlines have frequent flyer programs which are bursting at the seams because they are so popular. Many analysts fear that none of the airlines will be able to honour all of their free flights if everyone takes advantage advantage of them. Still other experts fear that the Canadian market is too small to support three airlines. Drawbacks to Debenturing Cold Weather Can 9 l Stop Hospital Construction ■m^em None of these negative factors, however, are deterring the three companies companies nor, in turn, Canadian travellers travellers who are flying with unprecedented unprecedented frequency. The crowding at Pearson International International Airport is a manifestation of the boom in air travel in the past few years. But the solution is not to restrict restrict air travel, any more than the solution solution to a crowded 401 is to restrict the number of cars a family may purchase. purchase. What deregulation has accomplished accomplished is a lowering of the financial barriers which for years existed and kept many people from flying even when flying made much more sense than travelling by car or train. Businesses Businesses enjoy lower travelling costs, and that is good for the economy. The unpleasant result of more people flying flying is increasing numbers of people at airports. This is creating congestion congestion and safety concerns. However, it would be elitist and inappropriate inappropriate to choose a solution to air traffic snarls which restricts our ability to fly rather than a solution which enhances the airlines' ability to serve the growing demand safely and profitably. In recent discussions concerning the Durham Region's finances, we have learned that Durham may soon use debentures to raise funds for large-scale projects such as water ana sewer plants. Financial wizards can see many advantages to debentures. For one thing, in an inflationary economy, the expenses incurred today can be paid off tomorrow by using inflated inflated dollars. There's also the argument that new facilities built to accommodate new development ought to be paid for by the new residents of a community. Paying Paying for such amenities with cash on hand means that the longtime residents residents bear the financial burden caused by future growth. And, of course, there's the obvious political advantage arising from debentures. debentures. That is to say that a government government which opts for debenture financing financing can afford to enter into a greater number of large scale projects because because it is merely paying installments installments on its debt and not the total cost. However, debenture financing is not without its drawbacks. For one thing, once debentures arc issued, their payments become a per- Sam Airs Concerns Over GO Transit And Energy Needs Construction at Memorial Hospital is proceeding despite the recent cold weather. Hospital Executive Director Richard Elston hopes to be using the new wing in nine months. He added that once the structure structure is enclosed there is a lot of internal work to do -- far more than in a typical office building or home. ^ZZZZZZZZZ- m li i ty Andrea Adair Whoever said patience patience is a virtue certainly certainly knew what she was talking about. Any journalist will point out that you need to have been born with a certain degree of patience patience or else develop it fairly early in your career career if you intend to survive survive the daily grind of reporting. Contrary to the perceptions perceptions of the general public, public, professional scribes spend as much time honing honing their patience skills as they do covering stories. stories. The working life of a reporter isn't as exciting as television and movies propose. True, there are rare occasions when disaster strikes or a Member of Parliament ventures into town. But, for the most part, reporters aren't running around in a tailspin chasing fire engines every day. Much of our time is spent unglamorously waiting. It's true everyone spends some' of their time waiting for something. Remember standing in lines at check-outs during during the holidays? Remember Remember driving around parking lots trying to find a place to park? These are two small, But very annoying, instances instances that everyone becomes intolerant of, especially when they have something something else to do. Reporters, on the other hand, laugh at such moments moments because they are seasoned veterans in "The Waiting Game." I am just a rookie at this game but let me tell you, I know the rules now: journalists have to wait. We wait for people to return phone calls. (Which in many cases they don't). We wait for people to show up for pictures. pictures. (Again, sometimes sometimes some people don't.) And we wait through a 15 course meal to hear a 15 minute speech. The most annoying time to have to wait, novv- ever, is during council meetings when council goes In camera. I can remember one meeting before the municipal municipal elections when I waited well over two hours for council to return return to the public. Members Members of the public and reporters reporters covering the meeting had to idly wait. Now, many will claim that there are numerous numerous tasks that can be accomplished during the waiting period. Howev er, not many of us attempt attempt them. Typically, while I'm waiting for a phone call from the keeper of the information information I'm seeking, I sit and...watch the telephone. telephone. The telephone system at The Statesman is on a type of intercom. When someone wishes to speak with me a little red light flashes on my phone. Little red lights also blink when one of the three Statesman phone lines is busy. What I ao while I'm waiting is watch to see when the appropriate little little red light will announce announce that my long- awaited phone call has been returned. But just staring at a phone does not cause it to ring. That saying "a watched kettle never boils" works as well for telephones as'it does for kettles. As another weapon against waiting I'll often flip through some local newspapers to see what news stories they have uncovered that I haven't. Anxiety of the worst kind is produced when I discover discover that a reporter from that paper had already spoken to the person I am desperately waiting to hear Basically, while I pretend pretend to be busy under the guise of waiting for someone, I'm actually wasting time. But, this is the new year. A time to start fresh. I have iust spent a few hours today waiting for phone calls and waiting to see some people who were supposed to talk to me. I realized that there has to be something to do to fill , those normally wasted moments. Therefore, I wrote this column. But the most important thing about this column is the fact that it made use of time which otherwise otherwise would have been frittered away by waiting. waiting. To tell you the truth I got such a charge out of actually making use of my time that I intend to continue the practice of writing columns to fill up the gaps in the day. There is one drawback drawback to this resolution aimed at making more productive use of my time. By my calculations, calculations, I could find myself composing upwards of three columns per day. ' The Statesman might have to become a daily to just to keep pace. The following are some edited remarks made in the Ontario Legislature by Durham Durham East MPP Sam Curcatz on December 13,1988: Mr. Curcatz was raising concerns over the GO Transit Transit service offered Durham Region. His remarks also pertained to Ontario Hydro and the provincial energy needs. "As we wind down this session and make our way back into the new year, I am pleased to have the opportunity opportunity of touching on a couple of items of interest that affect affect my own constituency. I sec my friend and colleague colleague the member for Oshawa (Mr. Brenugh) here. He would confirm with me that for the number of years we have been representaing the Durham Region, the volume volume of traffic lias become horrendous and the GO rail system extension, now out to Whitby, was none too soon. I have made my own little survey of what has taken place. As I said in my opening opening statement, and I commend commend to the Treasurer that he should review this with the Minister of Transportation, Transportation, ns in all things with government, it ain't enough. The parking lots already at Whitby, Highway 401, and Brock Street to Highway 12 are full to capacity. They are located beside the Ontario Provincial Police Station and the institution owned by the Ministry of Correctional Services. Services. I have been tempted myself to park at the OPP station or tne institution and walk over to the train station, fearing with trepidation, however, that I might be asked to remove my vehicle from thence. Alas, there is no place to put the cars because the 1,200-odd spaces are already full. I find it the most frustrating frustrating under the circumstances circumstances with the volume of traffic that everybody seems to be complaining about. If you tune in to the radio stations, stations, everybody is talking about the traffic around Toronto Toronto and the greater Toronto Toronto region. The people at home listen to us politicians and get frustrated frustrated as the dickens, I am sure. But this is a nice, practical practical little problem. We can solve this one, We do not have to talk about percentages, percentages, increases, decreases, the gross national product and the inflation index. We do not have to mention any of that. All we have to do is get the Minister of Transportation Transportation and take him down to the Whitby GO rail station at about nine o'clock in the morning. He came out at two o'clock Sunday afternoon. There were a few cars around and we had a band. There was great fun and lie > took all the credit on behalf > of the Liberal government. •» He did not mention the Con- > servative administration > whatsoever, or for that mat- -* ter, my colleague the mem- 2- ber for Oshawa, who has -* been talking for a long time > about the extension of the > GO rail system. He did not -Z do any of that. * Notwithstanding that, we > should get him back out-Z there during a weekday and > show him that the lots are - full, and let him make provi- ; 2 sion. There are some spots > all along there, some vacant land to extend the parking lots. Then, lo and behold, we : - would be able to encourage people to drive to the GO rail u station. 2 We will move along from V parking spots at GO rail sta- ' * tions to Ontario Hydro, a pet « concern of the then Liberal l opposition when we were in ; government for years and » years. I heard the Treasurer talk about it all the time: "How • are we going to get in charge 4 of Ontario Hydro? It's a/ mammoth unto itself. It's out ' • of control." Happily enough ' ' --1 give credit to tne administration administration - they have adopted adopted the continuation of some 1 ! kind of committee investigation investigation into the policies of Ontario Ontario Hydro. Presently, there is ' the select committee on ener- 1 ey- I will not refresh everybody's everybody's memory, with five ; minutes left, but this administration administration and the Minister of 1 Energy are going to have to ; make a very serious decision - in the next year. I know the Treasurer's hand is going to - , quake when he is summoned to New York by Bradley," Poor and Rich, or whatever; that stockbrokerage firm is - down there. He is going to 2 have to sign the endorse-; ment to borrow money for- the Darlington B generating; station. It is coming down; the tubes, I say to the Treas- 2 urer, because he is not going to have enough electricity in - Ontario. We know where the ! New Democratic Party; stands on nuclear power: it is • against it. Members are going to- have to make a decision on < where they are going to get ; enough electricity. We had to - have a phase-out of power in ; the summertime. We are not going to be able to get away with it in the wintertime. The people of Ontario are tired of this do-nothing government -- we have seen it on Sunday shopping, pass the buck; municipal municipal housing, pass the dollar; dollar; car insurance, send it to the board. The government 1 is not going to make a decision decision about how Ontario is going to be provided with more electricity." Nestleton Welder Creates Heavy Duty Artwork Some artists use watercol- ors, oil paints, or charcoal. Others work with clay and glass and wood. But "hardware" is the word which comes most readily to mind when describing describing the medium used by Nestleton sculptor Bert Ho- skin. , It could be more precisely described as the hardware of yesteryear, since it includes steel wheels and rims, old tractor seats, buzz saws, ice tongs, links of chain, cast iron pots, and much more. Using his self-taught welding skills and the above- mentioned materials, Mr. Hoskin fashions works of both weight arid whimsy. Some of these are both functional and decorative, providing a base from which a pot of summer flowers can twine their way around rigid iron forged many decades ago. Others are strictly decorative, decorative, having shapes reminiscent reminiscent of astrolabes, ferris wheels, or mandalas. In all, he has created about 100 sculptures. Each one consists of tools and machine machine parts which have taken taken on new life as components components of a sculpture. Mr. Hoskin, a former General Motors worker, explains explains that he decided to take up this unique artform in order order to have another interest once he retired. He's only been welding the sculptures for the past 10 years or so, but has been gathering the materials -- such as the wagon wheels, horseshoes, and cultivator teeth - for about 25 years. Recently, he has taken to fashioning smaller works which are more portable and perhaps more accessible to the public. Some of them use materials such as calipers, wrenches, springs, wood stove hardware, links of chain, and many other tools of days gone by. Although Bert Hoskin is spending some time making smaller sculptures these days, he is also working on something bigger than anything anything he has built before. His current major project also utilizes some new materials materials such as flat, 1/8" steel as well as older, recycled metal. When the welding and shaping shaping is completed, Mr. Hoskin will have built a large metal eagle having a wingspan of about 16 feet and a weight of approximately one ton. In all, the bird will consist of over 1,000 individual pieces, pieces, each one of which must be painstakingly fit into its place. Like most craftsmen, Bert won't be rushed into completing completing the eagle. He has found that for best results, he must work on his sculptures only when he feels in the mood to do so. Moreover, much thought goes into the work. He ex plains that since he has no formal training in engineering, engineering, he has to make up for that deficiency by planning ahead. For example, the bald eagle eagle must be built in such a way as to allow water to drain out of the hollow inter ior. Yet, the sculpture's holes ; and crevasses should not be -' large enough to encourage! bees to make their nests. While the eagle is months, - if not a year away from 2 completion, it promises to be ; one of Bert Hoskin's best works yet. ; marient fixture on the municipal budget. budget. This leaves a municipality with less flexibility to react to financial challenges of the future, For example, funding garbage disposal disposal could become a major cost in future future years. A municipality saddled with large debenture debts could not suddenly devote large amounts of money to a new problem without creating a huge tax increase. There is also the danger that debentures debentures can be habit-forming. The federal government is a perfect example example of what happens when borrowing borrowing becomes excessive. Initially, there were probably good reasons for the government to borrow. But, before long, borrowing became a way of life for the federal government. Today, we are left with a federal deficit that threatens to swallow up our entire economy. In the past, Durham Region has had an unofficial pay-as-you-go policy policy for funding its large-scale capital projects. Perhaps this "clean slate" policy is one of the reasons why Durham now enjoys a Triple A credit rating. It seems to us that a policy of minimal minimal debt continues to be a valid one. School Boards to Receive 6.1% Increase in Funding w School boards in Ontario will receive over $4.1 billion in funding from the Province Province of Ontario this year. That represents a 6.1 per cent increase over '88. However, it has not yet been determined how much of that money will go to the Northumberland and_ Newcastle Newcastle Board of Education. Provincial Education Minister, Chris Ward, announced announced in December that funding for the province's school boards will increase by $237,5 million over the 1988 budget. Ron Sudds, Superintendent Superintendent of Business with the Northumberland and Newcastle Newcastle Board of Education, said the amount going to each board won't be known until mid-March or early April when the provincial grant regulations come out. The regulations, containing containing the breakdown of funding, funding, normally come out during during February. But Mr. Sudds said enrollment increases across the province have pushed it back. He said the ministry wants as accurate picture as possible about the 1989 enrollment figures so that school boards won't come back seeking more funding. The 1989 payments include include $81.5 million to implement implement some of the 1987 provincial provincial government's Throne Speech commitments. One of those commitments commitments included reducing class sizes in grades one and two. Mr. Sudds said The Ministry Ministry has set a goal of pupil/ teacher ratio of 20-to-ono to be reached by 1990 for grade onannd two classes. Ho said the target for 1988 was a pupil/teacher ratio ratio of 24.6-to-one. The target for 1988 was met and bettered within the Northumberland-Newcastle school system, Mr. Sudds said. The funds announced by the Ministry of Education will be further used to develop develop more computer assisted education programs, purchase purchase new textbooks and learning materials and to introduce introduce new science programs programs in the intermediate division. division. "This brings to $145.8 million million the amount wc are spending in 1989 on these important improvements in elementary education," the education minister said in n press release. Besides operating grants, the government hns commit ted nn ndditionnl $300 million million for school cnpitnl projects projects in 1989. Bert Hoskin, a sculptor in metal, displays one of his smaller works. These are just a few of the many items that he has created over the past few years. In all, he has over 100 sculptures at his home near Nestleton.