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{ 2 - Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, February 18,2004 Subscriptions $29.91 + $2.09 GST = $32.00 per year. Publications Mail Registration No. 093.01 • Agreement No. 40012366 Publishing 48 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. " Orono Weekly Times 5310 Main Street, P.O. Box 209, Orono, Ontario LOB 1M0 Email: oronotimes@speedline.ca * Phone/Fax 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart The 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 necessarily reflect the opinions ofthe 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. Transit duplication While Clarington's experience with public transit is relatively new, there are municipalities in the Region of Durham who've had transit systems for many years. It is predominantly the lakeshore municipalities with higher densities like Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax and Pickering where public transit systems operate more efficiently. Clarington's system, while still relatively new, is a good first step, with room for improvement. Clarington Transit consists of two buses rented from Oshawa Transit making hourly loops through Bowmanville plus an extra bus--the "School Special" providing transport to students attending the two local high schools. The public transit service in Courtice is provided directly by Oshawa Transit moving riders from Courtice to Oshawa. The Municipality is further serviced by GO transit which runs hourly buses along Highway 2 to the GO station in Oshawa. The newest addition to Clarington Transit system is the Monday, Wednesday, Friday run to Wilmot Creek, and the Tuesday, Thursday run to Orono. As the Wilmot Creek and Orono routes are fairly new, ridership figures are still being established. established. Based on the numbers provided for the month of January, the Wilmot Creek run is averaging 2.4 riders a day while the Orono run is averaging 1.2 riders a day. Orono and Wilmot Creek are serviced by the "School Special" bus meaning it comes to Orono and Wilmot Creek to pick up passengers passengers after the morning school run, and returns after the afternoon afternoon school run. This makes a long day for senior riders who tend to usé the bus for appointments in Bowmanville.. The bus service run by Laidlaw every Tuesday is still popular with local residents who have used it for many years. It costs riders riders a bit more than the Clarington Transit bus, but it makes a return trip before and after the school run, and includes Kendal, Kirby, Newtonville as well as Orono in its service area. With the trip back before the school run, riders don't have to spend the entire day in Bowmanville if they don't need to. Should the Region of Durham take over transit responsibilities, responsibilities, it is doubtful this duplication of service will survive a Regional transit plan. Efforts should be made now to come up with the best available service for the residents of Orono and sur rounding hamlets. üMiüiiüihi;;: Letters to the Editor A golden handshake Dear Editor: Taxpayers stand up and object to the goings on of both Local and Regional Councils. The proposed 50% pay raise is unjustified. Laborers very seldom receive a 3% raise. The chairman's job should be an elected position. Getting rid of Regional Government would be even better. As for a severance package, package, the average worker gets 1 week (not months) pay for each year of service. As for the Local councillors, councillors, to get a 14-18% pay raise after 6 months on the job is ludicrous. The same 3% that was offered to the town's laborers should also apply to them. A job is a job. No more fancy trips to resorts, no coffee coffee shops in the library, no more wasting the taxpayer's money. Mr. Schell is said to have said that he is not there for the money. Let him and others prove it by turning down the proposed wage increase. The councillors knew exactly what the wages were when they went into the race, let them brown bag their lunches, pay their own gas to meetings and stop taking money for items that an ordinary worker does not get. As for the proposed $468,000 that might come this way, evenly divide it amongst all towns and villages in Clarington and only spend it on core jobs. Yours truly, Dale Haines Orono Ice angels Dear Editor: I want to tell you about my two "ice angels." Sunday morning, February 8th, I decided to try to deal with thé deep and slippery ice covering the lower half of my driveway as well as the fifty feet of sidewalk sidewalk in front of my house. Although I hire an excellent snow removal service, the recent combination of warm air, cool air, and intermittent snow had created a very dangerous dangerous walking situation. For the record, I am a Senior that lives alone. I walk with a cane as I have a failing hip. 1 am now one week away from hip transplant surgery. 1 brought a bag of salt out of the garage and was about to start salting the ice when two women, carrying assorted shovels as well as salt, stopped at my house. 1 did not know the names of these neighbours, although one of the gals and I regularly exchanged friendly waves when I drive by her house. : Ignoring my insistent pleas that, "I'm just fine, I can handle handle this," they began the hard job of salting* pounding, scraping, breaking up, and shovelling away all the heavy ice. They worked steadily and cheerfully for a long time. They did not depart until they were satisfied that the ice no longer presented any kind of danger. Then they cheerfully marched on back home cariy^ ing their shovels, leaving me standing on the driveway in a state of... not quite shock- more like disbelief. . I am grateful to these two ICE ANGELS continued ptp 3 RE: 18% wage hike for Mayor Dear Editor; Perhaps Mayor Mutton and his Council would not have to worry about being able to afford Clarington's Fire Master Plan, as presented in the Dillon report, if they relinquished relinquished the 11% pay raise they unanimously voted themselves themselves in a rather questionable procedure on January 19, 2004. Would a ratio of 20/20 or perhaps 30/30 or even 10/50 be more appealing to them and allow them to sleep better at night. I am sure that I am not alone in saying that I would rather see the lives of the residents residents of Clarington better protected protected than to see our Mayor and Council dipping into the trough to enhance their own bank accounts. Beverly Wakefield Orono