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6 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, November 1,1989 "S&t Canadian statesman cn Durham Region's Great Family Journal Established 135 years ago in 1854 Also Incorporating The Bowmanville News The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second Class mail registration number 1561 Produced weekly by James Publishing Company Limited 62 King Street West, Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 416-623-3303 Fax 416-623-6161 John M. James Editor - Publisher Richard A. James Associate Publisher Peter Parrott Associate Editor Geo. P. Morris Brian Purdy Donald Bishop Business Mgr. Advertising Mgr. Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition of advertisements produced by the employees of James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. Subscription Rales Six Months --$11.00 One Year--$20.00 Foreign -- $60.00 per 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 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 riot 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. Editorial Comment Back Off the Throttle or Pay /Ontario's minister of transport has some bad news for drivers with a heavy foot. He's thinking of tripling the fines for individuals convicted of speeding. In fact, if you're planning to exceed the speed limit by 70 kilometres per hour, then you'd better be ready to fork out $682.50 to the Ontario treasury. ."This sounds like one heck of a good idea. There are many mistakes and blunders blunders committed on each mile of Ontario's Ontario's highways but speeding has got to be one of the most common of the deadly driving sins. Admit it. When was the last time you actually travelled the speed limit, especially on the major highways such as The 401 or Highway 115/35? You'll even hear some drivers claim that holding the speedometer on the legal limit is actually a dangerous pastime pastime because you don't keep up with traffic. The result of this driving philosophy philosophy is a highway peopled with vehicles vehicles who are moving at least 10 per cent over the speed limit. It's pretty clear to us that as Ontario's Ontario's roads become more crowded, the drivers must become increasingly competent. competent. The highway is no place for thoughtless yahoos who drive too fast, fail to signal, tailgate, or operate unsafe unsafe vehicles. The transport minister's proposed clampdown on speeders isn't the only means of controlling the highway highway havoc evident in Ontario. Come to think of it, the higher speed limits are just a beginning. One can imagine a number of other measures which might also make the roads a safer place. Of course, it would take some courage on the part of government government to implement these ideas. Increased fines for driving offences other than speeding would be a good idea. This would guarantee additional revenue for the Ontario government, even if it failed to halt the offences. And then, there's always the option of' mandatory driving tests at regular intervals such as every five years. And what about mandatory tests for vehicles vehicles in order to ensure that they meet minimum safety requirements? This is another possibility which ought to be considered. Considering the fact that there were 200,000 car accidents in Ontario in 1987 and that there were 121,000 injuries that same year, "drastic" measures such as these are warranted. warranted. Certainly, tighter driving rules would be less than welcome among the highwa/s yahoos. But the majority of Ontario motorists either are good drivers drivers or would like to become good drivers drivers if they had the chance. Most people won't protest the hefty fines for speeding.iThey'll applaud. Nothing Wrong with New Ideas There are many advantages to freedom freedom of speech. But one of the chief advantages is this: Whenever an individual makes an outrageous statement, his or her words cause us to re-think our own beliefs. beliefs. Last week, an economics professor shocked a group attending a conference conference on social welfare in Quebec by suggesting that individuals such as drug addicts, alcoholics and heavy smokers should be the last to receive medical care. The reasoning behind this proposal was as follows: The professor argued that if there is a scarcity of medical services, some patients must be treated treated before others. Hence, it was suggested suggested that people who brought their ailments upon themselves should be the last in line for medical care. Moreover, Moreover, the proponent of this theory suggested suggested that people would be more like- to quit smoking, drinking or using rugs if they knew that they would be on the bottom of the priority list for treatment. This proposal is certainly a controversial controversial idea. But it's not entirely without without logic. Why shouldn't those people who are apparently the authors of their own misfortune be placed near the bottom of the list when it comes to assigning medical care? Or should we simply treat all patients patients according to their need and without basing the treatment on the reasons behind their illness? It is the latter response which is the only humane course of action because dr of the simple fact that medicine cannot enter into value judgements concerning concerning which patients are the most deserving deserving of our medical resources. Drug addicts, cigarette smokers and alcoholics are not the only persons who may require medical treatment as a result of self-inflicted ailments. Individuals may also need medical care as the result of overweight, getting getting insufficient exercise worrying too much or driving dangerously. Would these people be placed on the bottom of the priority list? And, to extend that thought a little further, we might note that many other illnesses are to some degree brought on by the lifestyle of the patient. Given these criteria, the only people who would get top-priority . in our medical system would be individuals individuals such as accident victims whose illness is clearly caused by forces outside outside their immediate control. Furthermore, any attempt to assign priority to patients could leave us in even more dangerous territory. One might, for example, imagine a medical system which offered patient, care on the basis of age, social position, or wealth. Canada is unique because of the fact that its medical care facilities do n'ot take into account factors other than medical need. And we should be wary of any proposal which would return return us to the "dark ages" of medical care. . We shouldn't fear controversial ideas ideas such as the one cited here if they help us to confirm reinforce, and further further understand our ethical values. Series of Supernatural Events Occurring in Local Haunted House Believe it or Not, These Ghosts Seem Real by Peter Parrott Some people are afraid of ghosts. But, for John and Mary, ghosts have become more or less a part of the family. "One of these days, I'm going to set an extra place at the table for them," explains Mary with a laugh. For almost a year now, the couple have been sharing their life with vague shapes that swish silently through rooms. And then there's the mysterious mysterious unlocking of locked doors, the stomping stomping of feet in an outside hallway and in rooms overhead. Moreover, something or someone has been known to switch on a microwave oven, a television set or lights in the middle of the night. I Sometimes, they can hear have a haunted home.) What follows is a true account of their experiences. experiences. But, the names of all parties concerned have been changed. Moreover, Moreover, certain details of their . story have been omitted or altered in order order to disguise their identity. identity. John and Mary have been living in their home for about a year now and the existence of ghosts in the house is not something something that they discovered discovered right away. Rather, they have experienced experienced a long list of unusual occurrences which they tended to keep to themselves. "Each of us had seen things but none of us had wanted to say anything," Mary explains. And it ababy faintly crying, i: " was only when they start- mi ed to compare experienc- compare experiences experiences between each other and with the tenant in the upstairs apartment that they began to understand understand that something odd was happening. The unlocking of the doors is 1 a case in point. For some time, John and Mary found themselves arguing over wh^ the out- left This is just some of the; evidence which leadsj John and Mary to con-: elude that their century home is haunted. They; ' * are not exactly frightened by the goings-on and are even able to'joke abouti/), the situation. Nevertheless, Nevertheless, they do have the feeling that they are sharing their residence • with persons unknown ||g§ side door had been and frequently invisible. ; unlocked. Naturally, each "It's like you are com-; blamed the other for the ing home to visit. You're V ; fact that however careful- the company in your own i ■ ly they fastened the three home," says Mary. j \ locks on the door, the Tales of ghosts and: locks would be unfas- goblins are as much a tened by morning, part of Halloween as are Finally, after carefully long October nights and . double-checking of the Jack-o-lanterns. There locks, they have discov- are many ghost stories ered that they are not floating about at this just forgetting to lock the time of the year. But ex- door at night. However periencing the supernatu-: carefully fastened the ral has become almost a doors are, there are times day-to-day occurrence for when the resident ghost ;mS: (or ghosts) unlocks them before morning. Then there was, the night when, for no apparent apparent reason, the micro- wave in the kitchen had been activated and was ay-tc John and Mary. This is a ghost story that happens to be true. What you are about to read has really taken place in a home located within the boundaries of .... „ „ the municipality. emitting a wail like the However, the owners of sound of a fire siren, the home do not wish to Several other pieces of be identified. (They're or- evidence for a haunting dinary citizens, not avid tonje to mind in a conver- believers in the supernat- / action with John and ural. Understandably, . Mary. They note one oc- they are a little con- / casion when a pair of re- cerned about what people frigerator magnets mys- might think of them if tenously appeared on a they revealed their set of placemans in the names. And, of course, kitchen. And John and they don't want the pub- Mary have both heard licity which might arise the thudding of footsteps from the fact that they that enter the front door and appear to move up the stairs. It sounds like a "herd of cattle? explains Mary, adding that when she runs out to see who has entered the house, there is no one around. On another occasion, Mary was sitting at the kitchen table, around three a.m. one morning and felt as though a cat had brushed around her legs. But, there was nothing nothing there. In fact, there's some evidence that one of the ghostly inhabitants is of the feline family. "Whoever it is, I think they had a cat," adds Jane, the tenant in the upstairs apartment. She has frequently seen an indistinct indistinct grey mist float between two rooms of her apartment and a second blob of mist also has been known to move in the same area. This second apparition moves in a fashion which reminds her of a cat. Understandably, Jane has trouble describing exactly exactly what the ghosts look like. But she calls the larger ghost a "swish", to describe the way in which it moves silently, silently, like a grey mist. Jane, the tenant, admits admits that she has also grown accustomed to sharing her apartment with ghosts. "I talk to them," she explains, noting noting that she frequently calls out to the ghosts whenever she returns to her apartment and wants to warn them that she's back. "I say don't bug me and I won't bug you," adds Jane. Maybe the ghosts can understand. For whatever whatever reason, they seldom show any signs that they mean to do harm. But Jane's experiences with* the home's coresidents coresidents includes an evening evening when she awoke to find that the TV and lights had been turned on in the rooms outside the bedroom. And, in addition, addition, the cat which had been placed outside the closed bedroom door had mysteriously b'èerï placed in the bedroom. Jane has also noticed that a latch on one of the doors to a room will not stay closed. John and Mary have only recently considered researching the background background of their home in order to discover why it might have a ghost. So far, they've been more or less putting up with the odd occurrences without asking too many ques-> tions. But any alleged haunting haunting certainly arouses the curiosity in even the most sceptical of people. Optical illusions caused by car lights on an outside street might explain explain the sightings of unusual unusual objects. The creaking creaking of old joists and timbers timbers might explain the phantom footsteps. But incidents such as the unlocking unlocking of a locked door in the middle of the night are a little more difficult to explain. So are the TVs and microwaves that turn themselves on while their owners sleep. There are various theories theories formed to explain the existence of ghosts. One theory holds that ghosts are spirits who have not properly adjusted to the fact that they are dead. In other words, instead of passing on to their reward, reward, they have remained remained at the houses or other places which they used to frequent while alive. Unable to progress to the Hereafter, they haunt the present. There's a theory which suggests that individuals who have died a violent death (by accident or by murder or execution) are more likely to remain behind behind as ghosts. \ Another explanation discounts the idea that ghosts are supernatural beings but still raises an even more bizarre possibility. possibility. It has been said that events which take place in the past are somehow "imprinted" into a particular location and can occasionally be witnessed witnessed as if they were a "three dimensional" replay replay of a past event. There have been tales of how a battle fought in the past can be faintly seen again at certain times and under certain circumstances. circumstances. According to this second explanation, people who see ghosts are merely seeing "replays" of real events which happened happened in previous times. This possibility suggests not so much a supernatural supernatural explanation as an explanation explanation arising from V natural phenomena which we do not yet understand. understand. John, Maiy, and Jane do not offer any explanations explanations for the existence of their ghost or- ghosts. Maybe that's because they're too busy living with them to do so. But when you add up the footsteps from nowhere, nowhere, the doors that unlock unlock themselves, those shapes which glide from room to room and the sound of a crying baby, you come up with overwhelming overwhelming evidence to the existence of something. I There's no evidence that the ghost reported by Mary and John is harmful. Mary wishes, however, that the phantoms phantoms wouldn't unlock the 1 doors at night. And p there's yet another odd occurrence which frightens frightens her somewhat. Sne's referring to the sound of a crying baby which can be neard faintly and in the distance. Both John and . Mary say that they've heard it. So has a visiting three-year-old who's too young to imagine imagine the sound. John, Mary, and Jane and others living in the home are prepared to accept accept the odd and apparently apparently supernatural happenings. happenings. But they will be doing some research to try and establish who the ghost might be and why it's in this particular ,j building. People have a natural i fascination for the unexplained. unexplained. Perhaps that fascination fascination is even more in- tense in today's 20th century world which is shaped by the forces of science and rational thinking. As you leave this home, and its inhabitants both visible and invisible, you cannot help but be overcome overcome by even a secondhand secondhand confrontation with the unknown and the unexplained. unexplained. I leave the real-life haunted house via a country road on a slightly fog-dampened evening. I glance at the corridor of autumn, maples which hurl sparks of red and yellow into the dusk. And an involuntary shiver runs down my spine. Andrea Adair As I'm writing this, thousands of community college teachers are in their second week of a strike and they are heading heading toward their third. And as I'm writing this, thousands of students students are impatiently waiting for some sort of settlement so they can return return to their classrooms and their studies. While I can imagine both sides in the dispute feel they have reason for allowing the strike to continue, continue, my sympathies lie with the students. Having been one myself myself a little more than a year ago, I know what it is going to be like when they return to school. Lots of work is heading their way and it may be necessary to extend the school year to make up for lost time. As it is now, they will have two weeks of lost class time to make up and maybe more. . Students at Durham College have been able to use the labs and the library library at the school, but I know they can only go so far with tne work without their teachers' guidance and further lessons. The first couple of days would have been enough - - like a holiday of sorts - for the students to. catch up on any outstanding assignments. assignments. I know that if I were there, I would be prepared prepared and eager to return to class by now. Especially because I would be paying to be there. A number of students in college may have other expenses to worry about while in school too. Many students, may not be residents residents of thearea in which they attend school. As a result, students have to budget their summer earnings for such expenses expenses as rent, food and other necessities while completing completing their courses. Some students, who are living on their own, may have had to sign a lease for their lodgings during the school year. What happens if the school year is extended to make up for the time lost during the strike and that extension runs past the time specified in their lease? If I were in that situation, situation, I don't think I'd be looking forward to finding finding another place to stay during the last week or two weeks of school. And, if the school year is extended, what happens happens to the students who have budgeted their savings savings for the length of time they thought they were going to be in school? Will they be able to afford afford to remain in school at the end? Students taking night school courses are also affected affected by the continuing strike. I'll be attending my university course . at Courtice Secondary School, which is very convenient convenient for me but somewhat somewhat out of the way for people living in Pickering. Pickering. And the student's who take evening courses taught by college teachers teachers right now are suffering suffering just as much as daytime daytime students. Their classes are suspended un til the strike is settled. \ Thousands of people in Durham Region and throughout Ontario are affected by this dispute, \ ; It's time the govern-, ;j ment and the teachers!-i got back to negotiations!! to work out some sort of*» settlement. ' A lot of young minds T are waiting for it. Better Ways to Solve Business Complaints Sometimes, we get Letters Letters to the Editor from customers who are angry with various businesses in the municipality. Usually these complaints complaints are related to service, service, workmanship, or the general quality of the product received.. Occasionally, we are even asked to do a news article about an alleged shortcoming of a local business. Sorry, but we don't do that. There are times when the offended customer has not even taken his or her complaint to the management management of the business concerned. Or, perhaps the customer has not gone high enough up the chain of command to resolve resolve the issue. Often, the customer is attempting to use our ! S i J%J if ! DURHAM REGIONAL CRIME STOPPERS SOLVE A CRIME NEVER GIVE YOUR NAME EARN A CASH REWARD 436-8477 publication as a means of punishing a particular merchant or business for some justified (or unjustified unjustified wrong). The problem is that we have no way of substantiating substantiating the claims made by the letter-writer or wronged customer. It's quite possible that such a letter could do damage to the reputation of a business business without that business business having a chance to explain its side of the story. story. In effect, the customer is expecting us to convict the business without a trial. And that's not something we plan to do. Our advice to persons who find themselves tempted to resolve customer customer complaints through this publication is as follows: Take the matter up with management management of the firm in question. question. If you're dealing with a reputable company company and you have a justified justified complaint, you'll likely likely resolve the problem satisfactorily. If the business is guilty of outright fraud or misrepresentation, then the complaint should be taken to the police or the Better Business Bureau. If the case becomes deadlocked, deadlocked, then there's always always the civil court system. system. And if the complaint is merely a difference of opinion over a business policy, it really. isn't something that this publication publication can resolve. Your only option is not to patronize patronize that business. If enough people agree with you, the business in ques tion will soon cease to exist. exist. We realize that claims by the customers may bé perfectly justified. But, unfortunately, we do not have the staff or the time to interview both parties and properly document each claim and counterclaim. counterclaim. Some large daily newspapers have a single individual whose job is to do just that. As we said at the outset, outset, people who bring business complaints to their local newspaper usually do so because they want to punish that business by having other members of the community community think that the business is somehow "in the wrong". Sorry, but we will not become a party to that process. /in UmtmMy N5 CL S ,oOj -O' i<3. va 0 o V 0 < A V &1 K°<<* f\/ews HVe/77 ' Towh Cokaci( Continues the searcA Tor hevv indus+ria.1 /commercial grow tin to offset rnuskroominj resiJenfi*! develoy/nen t.