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of Vraiou EN a SARS ar FAT) LT \ 1 =F Nn en Ant ¥; YoY TL Re rh TY Ye! St S We A So co! oe ry A er SRE a k NEE EAL AEE avi a ¥ Eas Ve PACS AT EO NER LEAT. 2 RIL VICI WS ~ In-Camera Decision Not Necessary It would appear that any hope the Township of Scugog ever had for owning the Lake Scugog Lumber waterfront property has been lost with the decision taken by the council Tuesday night not to purchase the property. It is no secret that the property has been for sale for several years now, and it is also no secret that some people feel the municipality should purchase it as part of a long-range waterfront development for park and recreation purposes. The Township does own the land on either side of the property, and It would undoubtedly be highly compatible for some kind of recreation use. The council was forced to make a decision this week in light of an apparently firm offer from private individuals to buy the property from Lake Scugog Lumber. x. No doubt the fact that the municipality would have had to issue debentures for the purchase was the determining factor in the minds of councillors when they decided against buying It. The property would not have come cheap, and in these days of fiscal restraint, there are good arguments to be made why the municipality should not be spending a lot of money for waterfront property. And likewise, there are good arguments why in the long run, the Township should own the property as part of the municipal waterfront that stretches from the ball diamond in the south to the Birdseye Centre in the north. What is disturbing is that these arguments pro and con were carried out by the council behind closed doors. A decision was made to discuss the possible purchase at an in-camera session. Now there is nothing altogether unusual about this. Decisions on buy and selling property are often made behind closed doors, for the protection of the municipality and other parties involved. However, whether or not to buy this particular piece of property was important enough to all residents of Scugog Township to have warranted a decent public airing. Prior to the closed door meeting there were ~ apparently four members of council in favour of buying the property, or at least in agreement in principle. The issue should have been debated openly so the citizens of Scugog could hear the reasons why" their elected representatives either agreed or dis- agreed with the idea. . bill SIM Disgraceful Rene Levesque and his fellow members of the Parti Quebecois must have been chuckling. They may even have thrown back their heads and laughed right out loud. And who could blame them, after the little demonstration in favour of Canadian unity that took place over the weekend at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. When singer Ruth Ann Wallace added a few lines in French to the National Anthem prior to a Blue Jays baseball game, some boors in the bleachers decided to join in with a chorus of boos. The same thing was repeated the next day, and this time the national news media were on the alert with cameras and microphones to record what has to be one the most stupid displays ever of public behavior. What is becoming painfully obvious in Ontario Is a deep-rooted anti-French backlash, and the incident at the ball game Is just one more small wedge driven between what little unity remains in this country. One cannot help but wonder If the disgraceful editorial poge exhibition at the ball park in Toronto was the work of a few, or if the sentiment is indicative of how Ontario feels about French Canada, and the fact that this country Is supposed to be bilingual. For whatever the reasons it just does not seem to be clear to people that the Parti Quebecois are absolutely serious about taking Quebec out of Confederation and breaking up Canada. Levesque and his followers are working over- time to convince the people of Quebec that they would be better off with their own independent state, and that their rights to language and culture are not worth a penny within the remainder of Canada. Many feel that the battle for the separation of Quebec will be fought as much outside that province as within, and that French Canadian perceptions of how the rest of Canada feels about their place in Confederation will be a deciding factor. With boo-boo birds like those at the Blue Jays ball games, Rene Levesque could proabably sit back and let the fires of separation be fanned from outside the province. Yes, indeed. He must be chuckling, all the way to the referendum ballot box. -. 200/ SR DO YOU ever do one of those psychologi- cal quizzes in magazines or the Sunday paper? They're kind of fun, especially if you do them with your old man-old lady. We do one every Sunday, although it's not a psych thing, but a straight quiz of general knowledge. And every Sunday morning I get between 11 and 13 right out of 15, and the Old Battleaxe gets between six and nine right. There goes the rest of the Sabbath. I try to be decent and modest about it. "It's' only because I know more about politics, read more general news, and am about twice as smart as you, dear." She responds: "Yes, it's because you are fascinated by those stupid politicians, have time to read the news while I'm doing housework, and are stupid enough to read a lot of stupid articles and watch stupid TV shows, that you beat me." And so it goes. But last Sunday morning, after I'd licked her 12 to 6 on the information quiz, she dug up another one, in a golf magazine, with little squeaks of delight and potential triumph. : oo It was a personality probe, and the end result was that you were supposed to discover what sort of person you were, and as a side issue, what sort of golf player this ley would make you. You had to be absolutely honest in your answers. And if you weren't, there was your spouse, across the way, glowering, and saying: "You aren't a bit like that." So, with brutal honesty, we did the quiz. We'd have been far better off in church, but there you can answer the questions, hide behind the prayer book, and bellow the hymns lustily, although you be a very Old Nick underneath, and nobody knows the difference. . 'This was real and earnest, with no sidestepping, no hiding, no evasions. And it came out pretty well as we had expected: we are almost total opposites. I've known it for years, but my wife forlornly keeps hoping and saying -that we have a lot-in-- common. Who needs it? The old adage says "Opposites attract." Maybe that's why we stuck with each other, and have lived happily ever since. Oh, we have our little differences, but beyond things like "Drop Dead!" or "I'm leaving first thing in the morning," nothing much comes of them. Well, this quiz really spelled it out. There were 20 questions, each with three cata- gories, and we filled them in religiously. There were three columns. Examples: 1. Dependent - Dominant - Detached. 20. Let's things happen - Makes thing happen - Watches things happen. In both of the above, I was a number three, she was a number two. And so it went, right down the list. Both of us had only two or three marked in the first column. In the second and third columns we were almost diametrically opposed, although there were a few over- ps. Here's how we stacked up, if you haven't turned to the.comics by now. My old lady is: dominant, assertive, anxious, . kind, extrovert of action, has enduring rapport with people, quick- temp- ered, irascible, talkative, active, energetic, enterprising, precise, needs people when disturbed, puts stress on doing, makes things happen. Your humble servant, on the other hand, comes out as detached, relaxed, calm, considerate, introverted, has extensive rapport, is gentle-tempered, reflective, re- served, cool, inhibited, restrained, needs solitude when disturbed,puts stress on per- ceiving, watches things happen. We agreed we were both: even-explosive in temperament; had a love of privacy; were self-assured (in most cases); were suspicious. In four out of twenty, we have something in common. Well, which of those two would you want to be stuck with for 30-odd Joris? My old lady comes across as a quick-tempered, agress- ive, dominating bully. Which she ain't. And I come across as a cold, bloodless piece of calf's liver, hung over the line to dry. Which I ain't : Like all of those psychological quizzes, it's a bunch of junk. The title of my wife's category is the Triangular Type, or' the Muscular Warrior. She is supposed to bully people on the tee, offer advice, and play only:to win, Hell, she can't even bully me, accepts advice, and plays only to win. . My category is called the Linear Type, or the Loner. I'm supposed to be a solitary not wanting confrontation} and even want to go out and play twilight golf by myself. Ridiculous. I wouldn't walk across the street to play nine holes of golf by myself. One of us might win. The only thing we found out from the quiz was that we both should have been in the first column, called the Circular, the happy extrovert who enjoys golf and plays an excellent game. fi