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ARI, mem PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 10, 1987 -- 17 This week's photograph, shows an ex- ceptionally clear view of Roebuck Street as it looked circa 1930. At the end of the street, stands the Brooklin United Church built in 1867 as a Westlian Methodist Church. On the right, behind the nifty car of the era, is ~ Grass Park. The property was formerly the site of the Globe Hotel, built in'the 1840s. The business changed hands several times and burned to the ground around 1885, at which time it was turned into a park for the Brooklin community. Photograph courtesy Whitby Historical Society iewpoint - by ROXANNE REVELER I recently read a story off the Canadian Press news wire that upset me considerably. It concerned yet another young lad who has been rendered a parapelegic because of a hockey injury. Brad Hornung, a kid who wanted to be picked up by the New York Islanders in this year's National Hockey League draft, has been paralyzed from the neck down and now lies in a hospital bed with his dreams all in tatters. | The 18-year old centre with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League crashed head first into the boards during a game and crushed his spinal cord. He cannot breathe without the assistance of a respirator and doctors at Plains Health Centre told a news conference last week that Hornung's coriditions is permanent. His life as he knows it is over. And I have to ask myself why? Why is this type of thing allowed to happen? The young player, a native of Fort Erie, Ontario, and son of former NHL player Larry - Hornung, had a promising future, so I have been told. At 5 ft. 10 and 175 pounds, he was con- sidered small by today's NHL standards and although some scouts say they questioned his skating ability, they had enormous praise for his other skills and his ability to drive for the net. His injury evourred when he was hit from behind after making a pass. It was apparent- ly a clean check under WHL standards, although a check from behind would draw a penalty from other leagues. When he hit the boards, his neck bent and he swallowed his tongue. The team trainer and a doctor had to cut a hole in his throat, a procedure known as a tracheotomy, to allow him to breathe at all. There appears to be something drastical- ly wrong with a system that allows for the brutality and injury as is the case with hockey. And it does not only pertain to older players of the game. It starts out at an early age. My son played high calibre hockey for years. As a matter of fact he was member of the Whitby "Rep" team since he was six years old, and ended up playing in the junior ranks before he called it quits. The day he told me he was hanging up his "hockey skates save for a few pleasurable games, was the day I stopped worrying con- stantly that he was going to be permanently injured. What am I talking about, permanently in- jured? The kid has broken his ribs, had more concussions than you can shake a stick at, torn, bruised and damaged every tendon and 'ligament in his body, and completely ruptured his quadracep muscles twice. He is a wreck. When it rains, this 19 year old kid has trouble walking. He has what he laughingly calls "Bobby Orr knees," but it isn't a laughing matter. You have to ask yourself what on earth he will be like when he's thirty, let alone fifty. And he is not alone. There are thousands of young men in our country who are in ex- actly the same condition. And it is all due to playing hockey and getting injured time after time while they were young. Stats compiled by the spinal cord injury committee at the University of Toronto's Sun- nybrook Medical Centre show information on 42 hockey players who suffered spinal injuries in Canada between 1976 and 1983. Their median age was 17. Twenty-eight of them had injuries to the spinal cord and 17 were paralyzed below the point at which their backbone was injured. What a damn waste, and for what? Play- ing a child's game? : But the game of hockey is no longer a child's game. Adults have done their best to change that. Now it is win at all costs, even if it means taking the opposition's best player (Turn to page 19) Reflections of a golden age by Mabel M. McCabe Everything Changes It will not be long until we are into the season of Lent. Then after forty days of so-called penance, we will celebrate the Risen Christ on Easter Sunday. | remember all the ceremonies we attended in the church years ago. Since the Ecumenical Counsel, much has chang- 'ed. Many of the things that for my early years were basic to my religion have been scrapped. | felt alone and adrift when this first happened, but now | realize it was for the best. | had.to start thinking for myself. Over the past years, | have come to a new understanding of my own spiritual needs. | know now that | am the one who has to make the commitment to my God. My faith is stronger now than it ever was, because | have dedicated myself to doing what | believe is the right thing. Before, | depended on someone else to tell me what | should and should not think or do. | believe that was wrong. I'm not looking for anyone to agree with me. Each of us-must make our own decisions in this case and we are on our own. | recall being taught that it was wrong for me to study any other religion because it might interfere with my faith. Now | see that if my faith-was not strong enough to withstand an investigation of these things, it could not have been too good to start with. They were wrong. | have studied and read about all the other religions | could find, and it has only broadened my knowledge of mankind and the world. | see all the killing and suffering that fanatical religious fervor can inflict on the human population. It is the same with all faiths if carried to extremes, Ireland and Iran, Israel and the Arab States, the Chris- tian and Moslem factions in Lebanon. All these and many more have torn nations and countries apart over the centuries. - When you really thing about it you wonder what the point is. Why do people who claim to believe in a merciful God tear each other apart? Like politics, one should never argue or fight over religion. No one is ever made to change their minds about these two topics. As usual, | have wandered from my original subject. I've men- tioned before that my kids accuse me of running off at the mouth, guess it's true. | do miss those wonderful old rites we used to follow, but some of the lay celebrations have remained. There will be an Easter parade ) even if the weather is freezing. Most of the folks will be painting the eggs for their children to hunt and there will be many pounds of chocolate eaten. This is good, for the little ones will see the pictures of those. white bunnies with baskets, delivering eggs. How | loved the Laura Secord quarter pound butter cream eggs. | would nurse them and make them last as long as possible. Funny; now those butter creams don't see the same. | think since the O'Con- . nor family sold out to a large candy corporation, 'the quality has suf- fered. It is everthus. Let a big boy get hold of the best product, and he'll find a way to make it cheaper and with less personal interest. I don't think I'll bother with those eggs this year, and I'm getting too old to worry about a new Easter outfit. Guess the retailers will have to get along without me this time. Students get sticky fingers at Purple Woods Conservation Area EE -- / With the arrival of spring weather in Durham Region, thousands of local school children are visiting Purple Woods Conservation Area to learn about maple syrup. Students learn about Indian, pioneer and modern methods of syrup produc- tion during their hour-long tour of the sugarbush. Each pupil attendin the demonstration receives a 50 ol sample bottle of maple syrup These visits are part of the Con servation Authority's conservation area community program. Most of the classes which attend are Grade 2 level, since basic Canadian history is taught at this stage. The aim of the tour is to give the students a first-hand 'feel' for life back in the Indian and pioneer days. Maple Syrup serves as a convenient theme to focus the children's attention on a number of historical topics. Ap- proximately 6,000 students will visit the conservation area between March 9th and April 10th. Most of these tours are already booked, however teachers who wish to enquire about a reservation are asked to telephcne the Authority of- fice at 579-0411. Please note that a fee of $1 per stu- dent will be charged, payable in advance The public is wee ome to visit the sugarbush on the weekends of March 14 and 15, March 21 and 22, and March 28 and 29, and during the . week of March 16 to 20. Tours will be given at 10a.th 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 pm The Authority will hold its annual pancake weekend on April 4 and 5, between 9:30 am. and 3:00p.m._, in conjunction with the Durham A.M Kiwanis Club. Purple Woods Conservation Area is located north of Oshawa at the in- tersection of Simcoe Street and the 10th Concession Road. Watch for signs. For further information, please contact the Central Lake On- tario Conservation Authority at 416-579-0411.