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PAGE 6 ♦ THE CANADIAN STATESMAN ♦ March 1,2006 Tim Whittaker Publisher Joanne Burghardt Editor-In-Chief Chris Bovie Managing Editor Fred Eismont Director of Advertising Eddie Kolodziejcak Classified Advertising Manager Kirk Bailey Distribution Manager Lillian Hook Office Manager Janice O'Neil, Cheryl Haines Composing Managers Clarington's Award-Winning Newspaper Since 1854 Sf)E Canadian Statesman Opinion | MARCH 1, 2006 durhamregion.com Phone 905-579-4400 Classifieds 905-576-9335 Distribution 905-579-4407 General Fax 905-579-2238 Newsroom Fax 905-579-1809 E-Mail newsroom@durhamregion.com 865 Farewell St., Oshawa ON L1H 7L5 Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 infodurhamregion.com EDITORIAL e-mail letters to newsroom@durhamregion.com Athletes deserve lour thanks i • • . ;■ Talk about a way to beat the try skiing. Women accounted for > February blahs! 16 of our 24 medals in all. The Ï The performance of our Cana- . men earned gold in curling and J dian Olympians in Turin was skeleton. nothing short of sensational and We truly were the ice women : worth a rousing rendition of 0, and ice men of the Games with > Canada! 20 of the 24 medals captured on - In fact our anthem was played frozen water. Just four medals i an impressive .seven times as we were earned on snow. i took top place on the podium. And Canadians finished fourth ; That's more gold medals than on numerous occasions suggest- ' total medals won by our teams in ing there are medal possibilities $ most past Olympics. in abundance in 2010. { The 24 medals our athletes It wasn't just that we won but l captured earned them a third- how we won and how we didn't. * place finish at these Games, the. It was, for. instance, a delight * pre-Olympics target set by the to watch the reactions of cross- l Canadian Olympic Association. country skier Beckie Scott, a ; The COA targeted us to win 25 fourth-place finisher, and Cindy l medals, so we fell just one shy Klassen, who was third, after they l -- can anybody say men's hockey were upstaged in their events by 1 team? - not bad at all. Germany Ms. Crawford and Ms. Hughes. » was tops with 29 medals, the They were just as thrilled for the ' United States second with 25. winners as the gold medallists £ Our total at Turin was seven were themselves. ; ■' medals higher than we totalled It also didn't hurt that, as at Salt Lake City in 2002 and usual, our athletes were the best > places our team on course to dressed and coolest looking of > challenge for top spot in 2010 the Games. Those wool trapper * when we host the Olympics in hats were a smash hit. " > Vancouver. Organizers have vowed to put ^ There were plenty of heart- forth a tremendous Games in ■I warming Canadian stories at Vancouver-Whistler and they 2 these Games, but the clear star certainly have a great Start given . > was speedskater Cindy Klassen the performance of our athletes. 2 who captured five medals. The It bears repeating that many. * modest Manitoban was a delight amateur athletes must work part- ' both on and off the ice and car- time jobs in order to supplement « ried on the classy, winning tradi- the modest training allowance J tion set by speedskating double- they're provided by the govem- * gold medallist Catriona LeMay ment. They work for years on \ Doan. Ms. Klassen was chosen end, often overcoming injuries 2 the woman of the Games by and illness to make it to the * the International Olympic Com- podium. , mittee and now has the most They are a terrific example for v Olympic medals ever won by a our youth and excellent repre- C Canadian, six in all. sentatives for Canada around ■ Our women cleaned up on the the world. Many who tune into Î ice winning hockey gold and the Games, after all, know little golds for Ms. Klassen and Clara about Canada except what they ■ r Hughes in speedskating and on v see from our athletes. And we the snow with gold for Jenni- couldn't have had a better team fer Heil in freestyle skiing and than our Turin group of winners. Chandra Crawford in cross-coun- They made us proud. BACKWARD GLANCE Telephone office, Orono Photo supplied by Clarington Museums and Archives | The first public phone service came to Orono in 1906, but | private lines had. been established as early as 1883. This ! house, owned by John Morris, was the Central Telephone I Office for many years. Built in the 1850s, it was demolished ; in 1966. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR e-mail letters to newsroom@durhamreeion.com Paper's stance on MP called hypocritical To the editor: Re: Bev Oda's stance confusing, ambiguous, editorial, Feb. 17. I find your comments regarding .Bev Oda to be a tad hypocritical. hypocritical. ■ Just days before ; the : federal election, it was this same paper and this very same editor who spoke very highly of Stephen Harper and Ms. Oda, and urged readers to support the Conservative Conservative Party. Yet, mere weeks after the fact, it seems that the paper has performed a flip-flop and now-does not like the moves made by the Prime Minister. Ms. Oda has said consistently, both at the time of Belinda Stro- nach's defection, and now with David Emerson that an MP must do "a lot of soul searching." She said it. then, and is saying that now. Before you condemn Ms. Oda, perhaps you should take a good long look at the change of heart this paper has had. Let Ms. Oda continue to represent the people of Durham and leave petty squatting squatting out of things. Joshua Terry Bowmanville Fears raised over health changes Tothecditor: I was attending an appointment at Lakeridge Health Oshawa, when I was handed a brochure detailing the government's intent on a new health care initiative. I have read through the brochure brochure and checked out the web site that accompanies it, and I find the information chilling. " Having worked for the Ministry'of Ministry'of Transport and the Region of Durham before becoming self-employed, and witnessing the effects of privatization, I am appalled our government would consider doing the same to our health care system. It is an outrage. outrage. And this is just one of the considerations that this bill reflects. . Va ■ We would trade quality service for highest bidder, lowest value/ mediocre treatment. Sure, those who can pay for better treatment could do so, but what happens to our lower income earners who cannot afford to consider that route. They will go untreated or worse. What of all the jobs this endeavor will put an end to... who will carry the burden of so many more unemployed? It will be on the back, of those already straggling. Remember the conflict of the last election. Tell your brothers brothers and sisters they are accountable... accountable... and will be held thus. Pat Kirkwood Halverson Newcastle Thanks owed to all emergency personnel To the editor: Police officers, firefighters, and paramedics are often cursed more than they are genuinely thanked. Regardless, these workers unselfishly unselfishly extend their lives, showing care and concern in their noble deeds of protecting and meeting the needs of others. We must take every opportunity to thank these workers for diligently performing performing these vital acts of service. Emergency workers do more than noticed or realized by most; I want to dedicate this letter to the emergency workers of the Clarington-Durham Region area and I wish - all could join me in extending appreciation to them for all the hard, unselfish work they do. As a beginner driver, I keenly sense the great responsibility which emergency workers display display in keeping our roads safe; From enforcing the rales of the road to dealing with accidents, our emergency workers perform multifaceted tasks critical for today's lifestyle. Thinking back to times as a young girl when I had opportunities opportunities to tour police and fire facilities, it strikes me anew how cool it is to know that if anything were to go" drastically wrong, emergency workers will always be there ready and willing to risk their lives for those in need. Next time you see an emergency worker, a smile and wave and saying a simple "thanks" could end up making their day. Julianne Baarbe Burketon LETTERS We welcome letters that include name, city of residence and phone numbers for verification. Writers are generally limited to 200 words and one submission submission in 30 days. We decline announcements, poetry, open . letters, consumer complaints, congratulations and thank you notes. The editor reserves the right to edit copy for length, style and clarity. The newspaper newspaper contacts only those people people whose submissions have been chosen for publication. FAX: 905-579-1809; E-MAIL: Newsroom ©durhamregion. com. Council makes right call on stores > Clarington council voted today ! on a series of recommendations i from its planning department | that will most likely lead to the ; construction of a Wal-Mart, { Home Depot and Real Canadian ; Superstore, along with a number • of ancillary stores and services, I in Bowmanville, near Hwy. 2 | and Green Road. . The decision comes after years ; of wrangling, and some extraor- ; dinarily hard work from Clar- ; ington's planning department, : which should be congratulated ' for its diligence in ensuring the ■' best possible outcome for all sides on this issue. | Clarington's planners worked ; hard to ensure Bowmanville won't wind up with some of the seemingly haphazard development development that can be seen elsewhere - in the GTA, where commercial Jennifer Stone and residential cropped up too quickly, with what appeared to be little regard for creating a livable environment. Not so in west Bowmanville, where care has been taken to make the area pedestrian-friendly and green when built out. They've come up with a workable transportation transportation network that won't have an impact on existing taxpayers' pockctbooks. They've also worked to ensure we don't wind up with a mass of grey boxes, the typical big box stores seen elsewhere. They've demanded better, and it appears we'll get it, with architectural drawings showing more interesting, interesting, esthetically-pleasing buildings. buildings. They haven't just said "yes" to everything, either - they've said 'no' where it just doesn't make sense, denying an application at Bennett Road and Hwy. 401, on lands better suited to industrial, employment use. They've denied expansion of the existing Clarington Clarington Centre. And the planning department has also worked hard to deal with the concerns of existing businesses, businesses, who have complained that building too much retail space loo soon coiild drive downtown businesses into bankruptcy, leav ing Clarington's downtowns as ghost towns. Of course, downtown businesses businesses should be concerned about their survival. Certainty, they will have to find ways to promote their businesses. The Municipality has wrangled deals with the developers that include financial settlements to BIAs in Bowmanville, Orono and Newcastle, Newcastle, and those monies can be used for promotions or programs, or for infrastructure projects. The funds, however, arc contingent contingent on those" organizations, not appealing the decisions to the Ontario Municipal Board. (A smaller settlement, it should be noted, is set aside for Newcastle and Orono, should Bowmanville, as has been rumored, go it alone on an OMI3 appeal.) The fact is, the competition already existed; it was, as one planner pointed out, just a few kilometres away, in Oshawa or in Cobourg. According to the commercial commercial study undertaken by the Municipality, Clarington residents residents now spend more than $250 million outside of Clarington. With the decisions made today, there's every reason to believe many of those dollars will be retained, and jobs, though perhaps perhaps not the highest paying, will be created within the municipality municipality Like the big box store concept concept or lump it, it was bound to arrive in Clarington eventually, and Clarington's planners have worked hard to ensure it came here in the best way possible. Reporter Jennifer Stone *,v column appears every other Wednesday. E-mail jstone@durhamregion. CLICK AND SAY Today's question: Do you support, Durham Region's joining Scugog Township in banning the possession and public use of replica guns to youth under 18? Yes No Cast your vote online at infodurhamregion.com Last week's question: Is Canada performing well at the Olympics or do medals even matter to you? Doing well 53.3% Could be better 36.7% Medals don't matter 9.6% Votes cast: 240 HAVE YOUR SAY What was your favourite Olympic moment? Mara Ferren "Hiked the skating of Cindy Klassen. She did Canada proud," Norine Nield "Cindy Klassen winning all those medals and the good performance of the entire Canadian Olympic team." Matt Lewis "Cindy Klassen winning all those medals." Rick Potter "Mats Sundin winning gold with Sweden in hockey." The Canadian Statesman is one of the Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing group of newspapers. The Statesman is a member of the Bowmanville Clarington Board of Trade, the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, Commerce, Ontario Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Circulations Circulations Audit Board and the Ontario Press Council. 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