The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

2 - Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, 3, 2002 ' \ Aoaia (ÏCNA Serving East Clarmgton and beyond since I 937 Subscriptions $28.04 + $1.96 G.S.T. = $30.00/year Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 Agreement No. 40012366 Publishing 50 Issues Annually at the Office of Publication "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs." 5310 Main Street, P.O. Box 209, Orono, Ontario LOB 1M0 E-Mail Address: oronotimes@speedlme.ca Phone/Fax (905) 983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart lb Thé Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Orono Weekly Times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. The pot holes of spring While Spring officially arrived two weeks ago, much of our weather since the 21st of March has been more reflective of winter winter than spring. Despite the ongoing snow flurries there are a few tell-tale signs that say Spring is just a breath away. The robins are back, the sap is running, sedentary middle aged men have, taken up exercise to firm up sagging body parts in a futile attempt to defy the ravages of time, and the pothole is back. While the robin is a welcome harbinger of Spring and one we look forward to, the lowly pothole, a less welcome signal of seasonal seasonal change, demands our attention in a less subtle way. A few good specimens on the roadway to work this morning left this editorially challenged editor with the desire to get down to the bottom of the pothole phenomenon. Several phone inquires into what makes up a pothole led to Durham Region's pot hole expert Mr. Brian Morton, District Supervisor of the Region of Durham works yard on Taunton Road in Orono. 'Pothole' is in fact the description used by the experts to describe the neat round holes caused by wet weather and frost action. According to Morton, cracks in the asphalt allow water to get into the gravel base breaking the bond and creating weak spots in the base. Continual traffic on the weak spot jars the asphalt lose, "And you got a hole," explained)Morton. The longer a pothole is left, the bigger it gets. Once all the granular material under the asphalt has been displaced by car wheels, the hole fills up with water. Holes usually occur in older pavement that is full of cracks, and are often situated in the wheel tracks at the side of the road. During pothole season, Morton has the roads patrolled daily and the worst potholes are noted. Then a crew of two spends a half day to a ftill day a week filling up the holes with a sticky mixture of asphalt and aggregate called 'cold mix.' The cold mix patch is pretty much permanent and the hole will not require further further attention. Potholes are predominantly found on secondary roads, where there is not a lot of base and the asphalt is thin, says Morton. On a positive note, the mild winter just past should result in fewer potholes this spring, says Morton. As with the late season snow flurries and the ill conceived fitness fitness routines, this too shall pass. FROM PARLIAMENT HILL SHEPHERD The passing of the Queen Mother The passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, or as she was affectionately known to all as the "Queen Mum," certainly closes a chapter in British history history and may very well close the book on the British monarchy as we have come to know it. But in the wake of the Queen Mother's death I think we can put aside any debate about which institutions would best serve our country, republican or monarchial, and celebrate her 101 years and what it has meant. For all intents and purposes purposes most of her lifetime served as a dichotomy between the monarchy's conservatism and the Queen Mother's ability to express herself without being constricted by the role thrust upon her with the abdication of Edward VIII. Whether or not she ever really wanted to be Queen I guess we'll never know. What we do know is that she took to the job with a strength and dignity that serves the monarchy monarchy well to this day. Within the context of the period in which she lived and the historical events that unfolded, I've come to view her as a kind of feminist, but that doesn't mean radical. „ We've all read about her foray into East London during Germany's bombings in WWII. This was the area where London's dockyards were situated and therefore, a prime target for the Luftwaffe's bombers. Into the ruined brick and twisted metal she stumbled, with George VI following. Every step she took lifted the spirits of London's citizens because she looked immune, or so it seemed, to the fear the German's were working so hard to engrain into the people people of England. Her strength, and as the German's would have seen it, her temerity, in the face of London's destruction, led Hitler to the conclusion that she was the most dangerous woman in Europe. That means something when it comes from the mouth of who was the most dangerous man. She was also what I'd call one of the first practioners of modern-day public relations. Not in the sense of being some institutional icon spewing spewing out propaganda to keep a war-tom country united, or to keep alive a romantic ideal of what we thought a royal family family would be like. On the contrary, I think she was the first to give a real glimpse into the world the royal family found themselves themselves a captive of. And with the passage of time, we came to see just how much they were like us except for the _ fact the royal family was bom with a great deal of privilege. But even in the face of this , open book she helped to create, create, we always managed to view the Queen Mother with a great deal of admiration. We never gave her offspring the respect she garnered and maintained throughout her lifetime. We can all look into our own families and pick out that someone who possessed strength as well as kindness and who could lead while always remembering to take into account the opinions of others. I think this was Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, the Queen Mum. She was a symbol for the British people, a grandmotherly grandmotherly figure, the friend of all those who knew her, the defiant defiant one during a nation's time of need, a chapter with a century century of her country's development. development. In the constituency office I have a book of condolence for anyone who may wish to write a message of sympathy to the Queen Mother's family. The office is located at 116 Water Street, Port Perry. Classified Advertising works for your business 9O5-983-5301