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Editorial A letter to Michael Dear Hike Just thought I would drop you a line to let you know that your budget speech of last Tuesday certainly got a lot of coverage in the major Toronto newspapers And Im glad it did Wei Im not really glad but a friend of mine is and I was only to glad to help out courtesy of your budget You see this friend has a par rot and Wednesday morning be called me up to say he had a pro blem He didnt have any material to put on the bottom of the bird cage and the parrot being a very fastidious and quirky bird was refusing to do his business with no covering on the bottom of the cage Toe bird even refused to take a nibble or two of ExLax and my friend was starting to really worry about his pet because his eyes were starting to cross Believe me Mike thats a tough thing parrot to do Anyway I had several of the Wednesday morning papers kick ing around filled with stories on your budget speech so I thought I had a solution to the poor birds problem Off I trundled to ray friends place with the newspapers nicked under my arm hoping to get there before the bird exploded There is nothing worse than cleaning up your place after a bird has ex ploded at least so Im told My friend was waiting at the door and asked me to hurry Into his livingroom we went and there was this poor greenish- colored parrot groaning on his perch and in obvious agony His eyes did look crossed I thought your parrot was red in color I asked my friend He was until he got plugged- up came the reply Quickly we took to the task at hand and covered the bottom of the bird cage with newspapers filled with your budget speech Editors Notebook by Coin Gibson stories Mike your budget speech did wonders No sooner had we laid down the newspapers and taken cover behind the couch when the bird started to make strange noises I peered over the edge of the couch and there was the parrot looking down appearing to read the stories about your budget Well Mike netdless to say your budget speech did wonders for the ailing bird He did his business again again and again on your speech After a little while the greenish tinge was gone from the parrots feathers he began to take on his natural red color and bis eyes became uncrossed I told my friend I was going to write you a letter and thank you for your help in saving the con- stipated bird If you hadnt made your budget speech the poor bird might now be in that great big bird cage in the sky By the way Mike the birds name is Johnny Canuck I was actually going to write a column about your budget but knowing you are a caring person felt you would like the bird story better PS Did Brian get my last letter Say hello to all your feathered friends in Ottawa for me Regards Colin Poets Corner GODS CRYSTAL And bow the politicians kill SCULPTURES our dreams Into the night of the I have teamed the language forest Of the darkness that walks fall frozen pellets of rain the streets I look and see the Ive seen all the cities minstrels reflecting rays Who know all the singers of the moons lightning beams they meet on the glistening Ice shells I can recall when the lyrics sheltering the scantily were strong dressed trees And the music filled the air But the minstrels crying Those trees whose colours Cause the musics dying remain In the cities everywhere are ragged green cones Tim Tibbltts Acton While beneath the frozen floor THE BEAUTY OF LOVE under the crusted snow Love is perpetual need of are all of toe shades of green yellow Inspired with care and orange Acquisition of devotion covered waiting for the spring Love allows each to be what and I gate thoughtfully Into we are the Acceptance of love Portfolio of God Acton ALONE Love knows no age no color He loved her with a passion or race And for her each day be had Grows with beauty a smile Unchallenged with grace Bat she was blinded fading and her vision was blurred Love is pure form of thought Their love was shared always While hate on the other band together and never alone Hastobetaaght She didnt understand why It Lois Richardson had to be and she looked Georgetown for the answers The reward was great wanted to go With such fanfare The of God guided her Her time spent alone Ceased Sue White Acton We live without A net 1 have watched and wondered Who knows As the colours tarn to grey What we may regret Ive sees the metal machines and the factory dreams Were never too young Ive got to get away To know I have seen the captives Were never too old Of the drags of power and steel To grow And the aching In my bead and Lois Richardson thee bed Georgetown The Hatton Hills HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established 1866 A Division of Canadian Newspaper Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario L7G 3Z6 K ROBERT Publisher and General Manager 8772201 EWTOWAL- C0UNQO30N Managing Editor Sporta Editor Ban Jean CHCULATION ACCOUNTING Accountant and RATES TTw on an two and tihmttlltt material created by and puMahad Nalloiul 1 Oman St Toronto Ontario M4mo or MO Montreal Manners Police Suggested Im sorry but I cant hold out any longer In recent months many many people have written me to say Ian we would like you to add your voice to the growing chorus of rightthinking persons who are demanding that the government establish an organization to be known as the Royal Canadian Manners Police The Manners Police these letters have continued would be empowered to arrest people who behave obnoxiously public places Officers would take such people to one side explain gently to them why their behaviour is of fensive and then beat them with targe planks I have consistently written back to say that I cannot support this movement While I applaud your concern with good manners I have writ ten I dont believe we should start beating people with planks especially largeones But Ive changed my mind Ive been forced to Last Friday night The Love of My Life and I went to the movies You remember the movies of course Movies are something we went out to see in the Dark Ages before VCRs were invented Until Friday night I hadnt been out to a movie in ages About three minutes into the feature I began to remember why It has to do with the number of moviegoers who seem reluctant to believe that anything happen ing on the screen could be remotely as interesting as the private discussion theyre generously prepared to share with the rest of us Which raises the question whatever happened to the quaint Weirs World Service notion that adults should be seen but not heard when in the presence of other adults who have paid to watch something else Or to put it another way how come so many of us have lost the knack of shut ting up Now its possible Im just oversensitive to background noise As Ive frequently point out politely to The Love of My Life I have trouble enjoying a TV show when the person beside me is munching popcorn On such occasions The Love of My Life munches some more pop corn and observes that if Im In terested In debating noise- pollu tion shell fire up the chalnsaw and try to imitate the sound of my snoring At which point I resolve to sulk through the rest of the show and make irritating little sucking noises with my teeth But I digress We were discuss ing people who chatter happily away in movie theatres Like the couple sitting directly behind us on Friday night who were having a wonderful chat by the time the opening credits had finished Naturally this raised the usual philosophical questions Do people talk through movies out of primal insecurity Do they fear that if they remain silent En a darkened theatre they will just disappear into Nothingness If so do they mistakenly assume that this would be a great loss to the rest of us Its often argued of course that people talk in theatres because theyre so used to wat ching videos at home that they forget the difference This has always struck me as a feeble argument People who mistake a movie theatre for their are obviously very rich people whose seat 200 and have concession stands in the hall Anyway I suffered in silence through minutes or so of What did he say and I just hate her hairdo But by the time they progressed to That reminds me of something Nancy said this morning I couldnt take It any longer I turned wrathfully in my seat preparing to wither them with my very best ye of execrable manners glare Thats when I froze They were Senior Citizens One does not glare at Senior Citizens The very thought of do ing so conjures up a vision of ones own mother gazing tragically and murmuring I have raised a son who glares at the aged I shall go to my grave a broken woman So I mustered a ghastly little smile instead and hunkered back down to enjoy the remaining minutes of their conversation Thats when I reached my con clusion The only answer is the Royal Canadian Manners Police But skip the planks guys Theyre elderly