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PAGE 6 THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, MARCH 14,2001 # Editorial&Opinions for 147 YEARS, OUR FIRST CONCERN HAS BEEN OUR COMMUNITY Produced by Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd. Also Publishers of CLARINGTON THIS WEEK. P.O. Box 190, 62 King St. W„ Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 TEL: 905-623-3303 FAX: 905-623-6161 HOURS: Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.M. E-mail: judi.bobbitt@durhamnews.net Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 Publisher - Tim Whittaker Editor-in-Chief - Joanne Burghardt Managing Editor - Judi Bobbitt Advertising Manager - Brian G. Purdy Advertising - Laverne Morrison, Christian Ann Goulet Office - Junia Hodge, Nancy Plcasancc-Sturman Editorial - Brad Kelly, Jennifer Stone, Jacquic Mclnncs Efje Canabtan Statesman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climic and W.R. Climic 1854-1878 M.A. James 1878-1935 • Norman S.B. James 1919-1929 G. Elena James, 1929-1947 • Dr. George W. James 1919-1957 John M. James, 1957-1999 EDITORIAL Fire staffing levels a hot topic Fire Marshal's office could settle Clarington debate The debate over whether Clarington's fire suppression staff is sufficient to ensure public and firefighter safety has been sitting in limbo for the past few weeks while arbitration arbitration of the Clarington firefighters' contract continues. continues. While Mayor John Mutton is suggesting the topic will only be on the back burner until the contracts are finalized, finalized, the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office is saying the issue has caught its attention and it will be "looking into it." That should be good news to residents who have been wondering if, where there's smoke, there's fire. The contention is whether Clarington is well-served with three-man crews manning pumpers about "30 to 40 per cent" of the time instead of the ideal four-man contingent. contingent. That percentage is according to Clarington Fire Chief Michael Creighton.The Fire Marshal's Office has stated it's more concerned with the number of firefighters firefighters arriving at the scene, in total, and the time it takes them to get there. Still, the provincial regulatory body maintains four firefighters per truck is definitely preferable preferable to three, though it has only guidelines, not enforceable enforceable rules, for municipalities to follow. There are mitigating factors, not fully transparent at the moment, which would allow a clearer picture of the issue. However, because arbitration is ongoing,, municipal municipal officials are refusing to talk candidly about the Fire Fighters Association's contention. They say the Clarington Clarington Fire Fighter's Association has put the issue of higher staffing levels on the contract table and therefore it should not be in the public forum, based on the rules of negotiation. Tim Calhoun, president of the Fire Fighter's Association, Association, has maintained the contract negotiations are a moot point because "it will be time to go back' to the bargaining bargaining table for the next contract" by the time this one is tinned, sealed and delivered and the municipality , "will Hjpnt this issue,to just take the back burner again." Either way, a concern has been raised and we're happy the Ontario Fire Marshal's objective eye has turned this way to determine whether this is a valid concern concern or simply a negotiation smoke screen. In the meantime, the Fire Marshal's Office has released released its own report stating Clarington is under-serviced in Fire Prevention. Council must weigh the recommendations recommendations made in that report seriously to ensure public safety in this growing municipality is not put at risk. We welcome your opinion. Please E-Mail your comments on our opinions to Judl.bobbltt@durhamnews.net. Submissions which Include a first and last name, as well as the community of residence, will be considered for publication. ,.F06(>lEB^t*TB/E£miNBmTO60NTyESAEPIE Nuclear plant sparks interest Judi; Bobbitt LETTERS TO THE Firefighter says Clarington lacks manpower To the editor: I am a firefighter for the City of Peterborough though I reside in northeast Bowmanville. You may recall the house fire on Downham Drive in the fall of 1999.1 heard a loud noise which shook our home and I ran outside to find thick smoke obscuring most of our street, being driven by a strong westerly wind. I hopped the fence of the burning home to find a man stumbling into the rear yard, dazed but very agitated. As I tried to calm him so I might assess his injuries I realized realized my neighbour, Claude, a Toronto firefighter, was beside me. We worked to treat the in jured homeowner. As we turned our attention to the structure fire we realized the garage was rapidly being consumed consumed as the strong west wind pushed the fire through the home. Two automobiles parked in the driveway were.quickly being swallowed by fire. Claude and I agreed the strong winds and the large volume of fire would have to be dealt with quickly if the home was to be saved and we offered offered our assistance, to the Clarington Clarington firefighters when they arrived. arrived. The first vehicle on the scene was a pumper truck with a crew of three. We quickly set to work assisting in securing water from a hydrant and stretching hoselines. We worked frantically for the next several minutes to get ahead of the flames. I was puzzled as to the lack of manpower and equipment equipment at this major structure fire. I would venture five to seven minutes passed before-the next vehicle arrived and this truck had a crew of four. Eventually I was relieved of my nozzle by a Clarington Clarington firefighter. One thought preyed on my mind then and for weeks later.I was concerned by the existence of a three-man pump crew. Peterborough Peterborough pumpers must have a minimum of four personnel. I feel Clarington has grown beyond the capabilities of its ' complement of full-time firefighters. firefighters. As areas become more urbanized the need for fast emergency emergency response becomes critical for the protection of life and property. Waiting for volunteer reserves to supplement full-time forces means precious minutes are lost. On Downham Drive that day a home was almost lost. Next time it could be a life. Dan Vale Bowmanville Is the political game for the young? Older people a resource of experience, wisdom LOOKING BACK WITH THE STATESMAN 25 YEARS AGO March 10,1976 Barbers complained men's hair stylists were competing unfairly by breaking a bylaw. Five local barbers asked council to define the Wednesday Wednesday closing bylaw because barbers were required to be closed but hair stylists were open and were using the day to cut men's hair as well as women's. Council concurred with the barbers in hopes someone could explain the concern. 50 YEARS AGO March 8,1951 Council considers a civil defence plan to be undertaken for times of peace or war. Claiming not to be an alarmist, Councillor G.R. Wooll says many natural disasters such as floods and train wrecks necessitate some kind of coping strategy. Councillors determined to investigate further. 75 YEARS AGO March 11,1926 A report by the local school inspector indicates 11 of every 100 children do not attend school. Three of Darlington Darlington Township schools are given the honour of successfully conducting Fifth Classes. While the paper finds it a disgrace disgrace in this day and age so many children arc not attending attending school, it is pleased to see the fifth book classes being used. Information taken from the archives of The Canadian Statesman When is someone in public office too old for the job? The question, which has sensitive social social and political ramifications, has been raised by the resignation under pressure of the legislature's integrity commissioner, Robert Rutherford. Mr. Rutherford, 78, has a prior record as a judge and commissioner commissioner into the behaviour of the Canadian military peacekeeping force in Somalia that is impeccable. impeccable. He had written a report exonerating exonerating Progressive Conservative Premier Mike Harris of allegations allegations he promoted an abandoned mine in northern Ontario as a dump for Toronto,s garbage to benefit friends. A newspaper reported the commissioner appeared vague and contradictory in answering its questions and admitted he called on an unidentified friend, not for the first time; to help write his ruling and when asked why • he used an outsider replied 'maybe it's because I'm getting old. Opposition parties are con- . cemed the friend may have been someone sympathetic to Mr. Harris Harris and shaped the ruling favourably toward him. A government government spokesman acknowledged acknowledged the commissioner had some health problems and an opposition opposition MPP who had had contacts contacts with him said he appeared confused. At the same time federal federal Liberal finance minister, Paul Marlin, who is 62, was fighting off suggestions he is too old to succeed Mme Minister Jean Chretien, when or if he retires retires or is pushed out. Mr. Martin will be 65 by the time another election is likely, but he maintained age is not a ques-, tion of the number of years a person person has lived, but whether the person looks ahead instead of Eric Dowd At Queen s Park back and what he can still accomplish. accomplish. In another of the rare cases in which age has been raised, shortly before the 1999 election won by Harris, Liberal MPP Monte Kwinter, 66 at the' time, was accused by supporters of another Liberal MPP, Anna- marie Castrilli, competing to run for the party in the same riding after their own had been merged, of being too old for the job. Mr. Kwinter, a former consumer consumer relations minister who would be on any list of the most sensible, reliable MPPs, retorted he is usually in his office by 7.30 a.m., long before most members, and works long hours and age should not be held against politicians politicians unless it can be shown it adversely adversely affects their performances performances and riding Liberals enthusiastically enthusiastically endorsed this stand at a nomination meeting. There were times when age was not considered remotely a handicap. Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, died in office at 76 and Louis St. Laurent was 66 when he became prime minister and won an election election at 71. Winston Churchill was still Britain's prime minister at 81. For North Americans youth and youthful looks became almost almost essential attributes for political political leaders when John F. Kennedy captured imaginations as president of the United States four decades ago. There have been a number of odd exceptions. Ronald Reagan was president until the age of 78 and while many would quarrel with him it would be particularly over his policies and not lack of grasp of his job. As examples of usefulness at a later age, Alan Greenspan, chairman chairman of the Federal Reserve, who controls Ü.S. interest rates and is often called tire most powerful man in the world, celebrated his 75tli birthday a few days ago. And Mitchell Sharp, a minister in those long ago days when Lester Pearson was prime minister, at 89 is still a senior adviser to the elec : torally successful Mr. Chretien and travels, with him around the world. People also are living and voting longer and it is conceivable conceivable before long many more older people will run for office and woe betide any politician who appears to disparage anyone because of age. Some of them have experience experience that would be useful to political political parties today. If Mr. Harris for example had more in his cabinet cabinet or caucus who recalled the 1970s, when another Tory premier, premier, William Davis, had to back off plans for amalgamations and regional governments because they offended voters and cost him seats, he would have avoided antagonizing antagonizing many voters with similar similar policies today. Clearly there are and will be some older people who like the integrity commissioner suffer, health problems that are more prevalent with age and have to forgo opportunities for public office office as he did. But there arc also a majority of older people who still have good health and constitute a vast resource of experience and wis-. dom and this is something government government would be unwise to lose or offend. Managing editor. It's huge, it's fascinating and it's scary, all at the same time. It's the Darlington Nuclear Genera ating Station, on the shores of Lake Ontario right here in Clarington, owned and operated by Ontario Power Generation. Four CANDU reactors pumping out 20 per cent of the province's power supply through the process of fission, the splitting of atoms. A couple of your community newspaper newspaper staffers took the tour recently, decked out in hard hats and safety goggles,'straining goggles,'straining to hear over the hum of machinery and through the earplugs. And, when the station loudspeaker squawked to life with "attention, all personnel..." we strained to hear that: over the tour, guide, just in case thej words to follow were "evacuate, evac-; uate." Didn't happen, of course. Seriously, the station has been part; of the community so long we go about' our daily lives rarely thinking about it,1 as long as we're assured it's operating i safely. Perhaps it's not surprising few, of us consider touring the nuclear plant: when we're looking for interesting! things to do close:to home: .« . :iiv n,;m ach year, about 8,000 visitors go; through the station's information centre, centre, but only about 2,000 arrange for in-: plant tours. OPG doesn't track howi many of those people live locally, but public affairs manager Phil LeSauvage says most local residents who do tour the plant do so because they're hosting visitors who are interested in seeing it. Why would ya? Well, you don't need to be ariiiclear scientist to appreciate the tour. Like us, you don't even need to know how a simple turbine works to find something of interest. The sheer size of "turbine hall," the rubber suits worn in radioac-i five areas, or the blue sheen of the stor-v age bay where radioactive, spent fuel! bundles are kept under water for aj decade are worth a look. The tour helps one grasp a basic understanding of the, nuclear generating process. . j The most interesting part of a nu-v clear plant for me has always been the i control room, where licensed operators j monitor each aspect of the CANDU.re- » actor and impart, direction to colleagues colleagues in the field. That's where it re- < ally hits home that there are people, not) just dials and gauges, commanding all] this technology. Understandably, you,, won't get too far inside the control^] room on the tour, as distractions to the j employees need to be kept to a mini-|j mum. \ ; I |] To book a tour of the station, youM need to call a couple of weeks in ad-ij vance for security clearance. Visitors'll must be 18 years of age or older. -jj For information about the tour, càlliçj 1-800-461-0034. Î THE CANADIAN STATESMAN is one of the Metroland Printing, Publishing Publishing and Distributing group of newspapers. The Statesman is a member of the Bowmanville Clarington Clarington Board of Trade, the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, Ontario Community Newspaper Assqc., Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Circulations Circulations Audit Board and the Ontario Ontario Press Council. The publisher reserves the right to classify or refuse any advertisement. Credit for advertisement limited to space price error occupies. Editorial and Advertising Advertising content of the Canadian Statesman is copyrighted. Unauthorized Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited, The Canadian Statesman welcomes letters to the editor. All letters should be typed or neatly hand-writ- ten, 150 words. Each letter must include include the name, mailing address and daytime telephone number of the writer. The editor reserves the right to edit copy for style, length and content. We regret that due to the volume of letters, not all will be printed, Fax letters to 623-6161or emailed to judi.bobbitt@durhamnews.net UNTAWU n* COUNCI.