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Robert Glasbey Advertising Director = Norman Alexander Editor ig Geoff Hill Circulation Director O Teri Casas Office Manager ave Ian Oliver Publisher Tim Coles Production Manager t didn‘t take the unions representing the high school teachers in Halton very long to come out against a suggested plan to have Halton Board of Education teachers and other board employees work one day without pay to try and curb costs. Of course this posturing is just so much rubbish. First of all we find it curious that the Ontario Secondary School Teachers‘ Federation would want to kill this plan since the board has said the alternaâ€" tive could be laying off 75 people. If you‘re low on the seniority list, that‘s not good news and you know the kind of great union solidarity there is out there for you and your job. And are the teachers really being asked to sacrifice all that much? One day‘s pay out of a year really isn‘t that much given the number of days teachâ€" ers actually work. They still get paid when the schools close for weather emergencies and there‘s usually at least one of these days a year, so what‘s the big deal? One concern of the teachers‘ unions is that if teachers agree to this one day for no pay scheme, it will be akin to reopening their contract with a view to wringing concessions from the teachers. Eureka people, welcome to the recessionâ€"battered 1990s. Businesses slogging it out in the marketplace of free enterprise have been slashing and burning for the past few years trying to not ohly stay competiâ€" tive but also to merely survive. If the business isn‘t out there, companies cut their expenses and like it or not, cutting costs can mean no raises, salary caps or even salary reductions. That‘s business, that‘s reality, that‘s fiscal responsiâ€" bility. also isn‘t any other job that pays the kind of salaries teachers receive in Ontario for the number of days worked. We applaud Halton Board of Education Director Bob Williams‘ efforts to try and explain the reasoning behind the request and the implications for those who would ignore the plan. The local OSSTF council will vote on the idea Tuesday and we hope they take the high road and vote for the plan. Ironically, the OSSTF representative is in favor of the concession but Sally Rewbotham has been directed by the OSSTF headquarters to oppose the suggestion or to reopen the collective agreement. It will be an interesting vote. What do you think about the Toronto Blue Jays chances of repeating as the World Series champions? ie [a im I think the Blue Jays can definitely win it again . They‘ve got enough playâ€" ers like Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter. There‘s no problem. I‘m sure they can do it again. I think the Jays will have a chance to win it again. I know they lost a lot of people, but they got a lot of good players back like Paul Molitor and Dave Stewart. They have a lot of new faces and they are a good team and I think they‘ll win the World Series again. II think the Blue Jays have another chance to repeat in the World Series because they have Stewart, and they got rid of Gruber. They have a wicked team; they have a wicked coach in Cito Gaston and they just have a wonderful team. CALL845â€"5585 The right thing 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 384 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 AKVILLE BEAVER . The Oakville Beaver, published every Sunday, Wednesday and at 467 m«sfl?:‘_womlle 'is one of the M"m IPngmm Pufifi;mm roup of suburban newspapers ludes: W News Adv § Em Advance, Brampton Guardian, Bu n P« Coll:vwood Comednn Etobicoke Guardian, Gao;%ebwn Independent! Acton Free Press, Kingston This Week, is Week, Markham Economist and Sun, Sbuflvilelum Tribune, Canadian . Ef““‘o“":-?"r"’ Oshawa'Whlby Thi WQ::' P nmy:m This w.m'(a aver, oda‘ is e All material published the Oakville Beaver is edsd hi. A in ier z :'I‘g wod\ntbnlnmnleornpsldfiismawugum To m ny consent of the publisher. \QUESTION OF THE WEEK What measures should the province take to cut its deficit? Give us your opinion on this topic by calling 845â€"5585, box 5012. A sampling of the best answers will be published in the next Weekend ediâ€" tion of the Oakville Beaver. All callers are allowed 45 seconds to respond and must provide their name, address and phone number for verificaâ€" tion. Allison Walter Brian Kelly Justin Dy t is one of the enduring I ironies of the late twentiâ€" eth century that while perhaps you, and certainly I, and definitely Roseanne Barrâ€" Arnold, strive desperately to lose a few pounds, most of the people in the world are scramâ€" bling just as desperately to gain a couple. The grim spectre of starvaâ€" tion stalks the Third World. But here in Fat Cat Central, we swirl our wine spritzers and nibble on carrot sticks while we moan about how tough it is to take off weight. There are more ways to reduce than there are calories in a banana split. Diets â€" Pritikin, Atkins, Beverley Hills, Loma Linda, Grapefruit, and Drinking Man‘s, to name a handful. And then there‘s exercise â€" anything from bareâ€"knuckle mountaineering to lowâ€"impact aerobics. The more crazed among the Gravitationally Challenged resort to surgery â€" lyposuction to Hoover away those rolls of fat; not to menâ€" tion "tummy tucks" which shortâ€"circuit the alimentary canal. Some have their jawâ€" bones wired shut to prevent the intake of solids. Simply, medically supervised fasting would do the trick for most of us, except that‘s a little too much like...well, the sort of thing that goes on in places like Somalia, â€" Ethiopia, â€" and Bangladesh. At the risk of being disâ€" missed as just another Phoney Baloney Svelteness Guru, I‘d Answer for overweight women is easy...but not recommended What‘s more, it‘s a method with a proven track record. Our overweight ancestors were using this trick to look slim centuries ago. It‘s called the corset. The corset actually dates back to at least the early 16th century â€" and the first ones were probably worn for theraâ€" peutic reasons, rather than vaniâ€" ty. It didn‘t take long, however, for people to realize that the average human body looked a lot trimmer when it was lashed into a straightjacket of whaleâ€" bones and cloth than it did when it was allowed to droop and bulge naturally. By the late 17th and early 18th century, just. about everybody in England who could afford a corset was sitting or standing unusually erect and breathing in shallow little gasps. The corset was the chosen instrument of torture for all who would be chic. like to tell you about a way to look thinner that works faster than any diet plan or exercise regime you ever heard of. The word "torture" is no exaggeration. Girls as young as 13 were trussed up in corsets in order that their figures could be "improved". And the corsets got tighter and tighter. During the 1700s, fashionable corsets literally drove the female waistâ€" If xâ€"rays had been available, they would have revealed an anatomical â€" obscenity â€" women‘s spines torqued and twisted until they looked like a large capital "S" â€" all in the name of fashion. line down. Not to mention "in". Some girls had their waistlines reduced by a mindâ€"boggling eight inches. As time went on, common sense seemed to retreat. The 1800s saw the dawn of the "hourglass" figure. The 18â€"inch waist became the ideal. Ladies of fashion even went as far as having their lower ribs surgicalâ€" ly removed to accommodate a snugger corset and a waspier waist. Or perhaps the Marquis de Sade. This construction feaâ€" tured a minuscule waist and a rigid front, so that the woman‘s breasts were pushed forward while her hips were forced to the rear. The popularity of corsets died out, thank heaven â€" about 1910 â€" and they haven‘t been a serious fashion threat since. Could they make a comeâ€" back? Hey, in a society that endorses silicone breast implants, face lifts, and stiletto high heels, anything is possible, I suppose... but a garment as stupid and healthâ€"threatening as the corset? Personally, I wouldn‘t hold my breath. F4 The ultimate corset absurdity arrived with the notâ€"so Gay Nineties and a revolutionary corset engineered with a comâ€" plexity worthy of Michelangelo.