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4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, Mar. 29, 1978 Editorial Comment YW == THE MiD- FASTER BUNNY HIPPITY HOPPIN' DOWN THE LEBANON TRAIL Strange things It is interesting to watch politicians at work during an election year. Although municipal elections are still several months away, it seems that councillors at Durham Region are already counting their votes. Ever mindful of the ballot box, they start doing rather strange things, and last Wednesday at Regional council in Whitby, there were a couple of fairly good indications of this behavior. First of all councillors spent more than an hour in serious debate over a motion which would ask the provincial government to conduct a complete review of Durham Region including its efficiency and itsy boundaries and representation. The motion was proposed by two Oshawa coun- cillors who no doubt are hearing rumblings from the people of Oshawa about how much Durham Region is adding to their taxes. ' Recognizing on the one hand that Durham Region is here to stay, like it or not, councillors who are getting their ears bent by unhappy ratepayers will now be able to go to them and say "the province is going to look into the situation', and better still, the® province (if it agrees) will pick up the tab for the study. Of course, the concept of regional government has been studied to death in the past few years, and these studies which cost the taxpayers' of Ontario several hundred thousand dollars are available for all to see, if they can be found through the dust on a back shelf somewhere. w . While the vote to ask for the study of Durham passed last"week by a fairly wide margin, several councillors appeared to go along with it only grudging- ly. One suspects that they did so because with a fair s amount of suspicion about the Region among the SRE "motivated my call to an old school buddy who now Sh ne, i ChatterBox by J. Peter Hvidsten - FRUIT JUICE : There are very few commercials on radio or TV that do much to motivate me towards buying or doing their beckoning. But, I must admit there have been a couple in the past year. While watching TV one evening last summer the screen projected an awesome image. It was a bright orange object held in the most perfectly formed hands I have ever seen. This spherical object lay on long . slender fingers which curved upwards toward - the crown, where two thumbs equipped with "spear-like" nails pointed at its central core. No words were uttered, then the thumbs began their slow descent to its interior with a simple pushing and pulling motion. Beads of juice erupted into the air and large drops gushed and ran down the sides onto those sensuous fingers where they hung like huge glistening diamonds. At this point it was all I could do to lay there in my lazy-boy without drowning in my own juices, as my salivary glands had begun to work double-shift. The scene was repeated time after time and it was apparent that the only cure for this mouth watering * feeling I was experiencing was to get up and head for the refrigerator. This is my normal routine to get away from the boring commercials anyway, but this time it was different. I desired exactly the product they were advertising. Upon reaching the refrigerator I opened the door and there, lying cool and bright in the bottom crisper were a number of those same juicy objects. By now you must have guessed that I am talking about Oranges. 1 don't recall if they were Sunkist oranges, but I do remember at the time that I could have cared less. Since that first eventful evening, I have seen these :same commercial on numerous occasions, each time 'with the same effect. With summer soon approaching, it is probably time to stock up on oranges once again, and be prepared for those tantalizing commercials. REMEMBERING FRIENDS ' Probably one of the most successful advertise ments being used on both radio and TV presently, are those made by Bell Canada. The mental picture of loved ones hundreds and thousands of miles from their homes with the desire to talk to those back home has been expertly captured. The commercials portray grief, sorrow and loneliness as well as jubilation and delight at the sound of a familiar voice from far away, One can't help but assume that these commercials have made more than one person instantaneously pick up the telephone and call friends or loved ones. - Well, I'm not sure if it was these commercials that planned for this summer. lives in Victoria B.C. last week or not, but it would not surprise me if it had some bearing. Jotun Home is his name, and if you think that he - has a strange name, how about his brothers and sisters. There is Frey...Lock...Tyre...Thor...Oden... Edgar...Nida...Eda. I am told the names are from "Gods" in Scandinavian mythology. How many guys do you know that spent the month of February living in a tent? Jot did! How many guys do you know that protected his kid brother from five punks ready to tear him apart and won? Jot did! I could elaborate on these two incidents but they are rather long, so I won't. But by now you must realize that Jot is just not an ordinary guy. He is special. Jot and I went to school together in Uxbridge, and although we were not "best friends", we did hang around with the same bunch of guys most of the time. He is the type of guy that you would much rather have as a friend than an enemy. He is not a bully, but did have a tendency, even in a friendly encounter, to get carried away with himself. After finishing school we both went to the "big city" to look for work. He took a position as a clerk with Canada Trust and I started as a 'helper for a professional photographer, and we both were making about $60. per week. We then rented an apartment, along with two other Uxbridge boys, near downtown Toronto ior $140 per month and for the next two years felt the joys and pains of living in confined quarters. It was a one-bedroom apartment and we slept in two bunk beds with little more than enough room to get off the top bunk without scraping your back on the other bed. But it was fun. Sure, we had some scraps, but we also learned how to deal with the problems of living in close quarters. Much of the time we just didn't come home until it was bedtime. The years passed quickly and the next thing I knew Jot was ready to get married and settle down. But he is not the settling down type, and after a couple of years of marriage, he figured it'was time to get & new lease -.on life. - He packed up all his worldly-possessions-in-a - - borrowed trailer, jumped into an old car with his wife and little boy and headed west. Ahead of nem lay no job....no security....and no home; But they have managed fine. Jot got a job as Assistant Accountant with Canada Trust in B.C., and has sifice then made a few moves. Presently he sells real estate in Victoria. What prompted my telephone call to him last week was my planned vacation in British Columbia this. year. Iam looking forward to seeing him once again, and by the sound of our brief conversation.....I would have to say he has not changed. So thanks to Bell Canada, we have a great time populations, they would not want to be on record as opposing a study to try to set things right (or better). It is after all, an election year, and opposition to such a study of the Region might be seen as approval of the way Durham is managing its affairs. And that might upset some voters next November. After pushing through the motion to ask the provincial government to conduct an intensive study of the Region, councillors then went on to debate and @ approve a motion which will ask the management committee to study the desirability of limiting the summer student employment term to half the usual length of time. : The logic, if one can call it that, behind the motion is to give twice as many students the opportunity to work at least a few weeks, anyway. Management committee, however, should give the request about three seconds consideration, and then throw it out. : While no one can deny for one minute that the student job market this summer is going to be tense, cutting the work term in half for those students hired 0 by the Region is not the way to alleviate the situation. In the first place, as was rightly pointed out by one councillor, students who are serious about working and those who absolutely need the money to continue their studies are going to find jobs this summer, by hustling, by knocking on doors, and by indicating to perspective employers that they are ready, willing and able to put in a full summer's work in exchange for a full summer's pay. For many students the economics of higher education these days do not allow them the luxury of working just half the summer, despite the lack of jobs. In the second place, cutting the work term in half could end up costing the Region money. It will mean twice as many interviews, twice as many applications to approve, twice as much paper work for the personnel department. It could.also mean ineffici- ency. as any new employee, no matter how mundane or menial the job may be, requires several days to "learn the ropes", so to speak, and find his (or her) way around. To ask managers, supervisors and -foremen to go through this orientation period with the students twice in one summer .s really a little much. And finally, if the Region is going to get full measure from its student employment program it should hire on merit. Give the jobs to the students who want to work, give them to those who have their applications in early. If the Region wants to create a make-work program for summer students, it would be better to dig a little deeper (or trim some of the fat) and come up with the money to hire more students for . the entire 12-week work period. The argument that six weeks of work is better than no work at all just doesn't hold water, even In an election year.