The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

© —The'Oskvilte Journal Recarti, Friday, September 19-1980 _ Sout Record R.A. Russ Meakes, Publisher David Kingsmill, Editor — W.G. McConkey, Retail Sales Manager ‘ The Oakville Journal Record, 284 Lakeshore Road East. Oakville, L6J 1R2, is published every Monday. Wednesday and Friday by Metrospan Community Newspapers. a divi- sion. of Metrospan Printing & Publishing Ltd. Vice-President, Director of Publishing West Division, H. J. Foley é — Curingasymptom | holes the disease . . At the promptifig-ef a downtown merchant, town council will strike - an informal committee to look irtto the problems of, and reasons for teenagers loitering in plazas. Neighbors of one small plaza in particular, just west of Kerr Street on the south side of Lakeshore Road have complained that ers are ‘‘hanging out”’ there, eenag causing trouble and creating ex- - cessive noise. The kids,.on the other hand, say they have nowhere to go and that the plaza in question chas a pin-ball arcade, a nearby doughnut shop and McDonald’s restaurant beside it to amuse them. Leo Altman, who manages a paint store in the plaza, has suggested the town create a late teen centre where the teenagers could go. The committee will look’ into this and other possibilities. ‘This centre,’ Mr. Altman main- tains, ‘should not be an edifice to some glorious person. It should not be palatial. If we hand it to the teenagers on a plate it will merely embarrass them. It needs -somewhere simple — just a venue where they can loiter legally.’’ The practical problems to be fac- ed are many: Who would police such atentre? Who would maintain it? What would it cost all of us? Where could it be located so that it could not only be accessible to teenagers but sufficiently removed from residential and commercial operations in order to avoid the problems perceived today? There is another problem, an overriding hurdle that must be cleared before anything can be done: Once the committee has solv- ed the practical problems, will the kids use whatever the committee members come up with? That, of course, is the real challenge. To achieve a solution will mean the committee members must speak and think in two languages. Neighbors of plazas say the kids are _ loitering and making a nuisance of themselves. The kids say they are just hanging out. If anyone thinks that ‘hanging out,’ means loitering they are speaking only one language. The objective point from which the problem must be tackled is a recognition that whatever one calls the behavior it is merely social intercourse with differing con- natations. The committee members must also walk into the discussions realizing that the reason they are meeting is not to eradicate a dis- ease but to tréat a symptom before it becomes a disease. The kids upon whom all the attention has been focused are a minority in Oakville. The majority of teenagers in town, of the same age, do not hang around plazas for entertainment. But more of them _ will if the committee doesn’t deal with the underlying cause of the loitering. To do this, the committee must listen to kids but not just the minority. They must listen to the majority as well, the teenagers whom the adults consider responsi- ble in their behavior. The com- mittee must find out what they do for entertainment. The proposals being considered now for the committee representa- tion include teenagers, but so far. talk has indicated that only the kids under fire be given their say — and so they should be. But the com- mittee will be recommending solutions for the minority if they are the only ones being considered. The decision will affect all teenagers and they should be represented. The chairman should approach high schools in town and invite the student representatives to present their side without fear of prosecution and in anonymity if necessary so the committee gains a realistic insight into how kids are behaving. The committee represen- tation as it is now being considered verbally, has too many adult and of- - ficial members, and they have all the political and legal weight in any case. If the committee conducts its dis- cussions in the two diametrically opposed languages, recognizes that the problem is symptomatic, realizes the implications of a solu- tion will have broad effects for all _ teenagers now and in the future, it will be a success even if it specifically fails. The.committee may not arrive at a solution to a problem that has. plagued communities for years. It may not be able to recommend building a place where kids can loiter legally. But in the process, the committee will have gained a better understanding of teenagers, their wants, needs, habits, and motivations. That will be in- valuable information to be used in everything from planning future plazas to understanding what youths are saying. The key is the teenagers themselves. Sex discrimination You're a 20-year-old woman look- ing for another fémale student with whom to share your apartment, and you want to advertise for one. The way Sheridan College now runs its accommodation listings, you can do that, but the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC). wants the school to remove any references to sex on the registra- tion forms used by landlords. The OHRC believes allowing all landlords to indicate a preference between men and women students has led to discrimination. The commission figures it is safer not to let anyone indicate a sex. preference rather‘than run the risk -- of letting a self-contained apart- ment owner discriminate. But the college says when that type of landlord doesn’t check the ‘‘either sex’’ box, he is informed that he is breaking the law. In the case of the 20-year-old woman, if she couldn’t indicate that she wanted another woman to room with, she’d be plagued with male students coming to her door inquiring about a place to. live. She is within her rights at that point to turn them down, but wouldn’t it save the time of a lot of people to make her requirements clear from the beginning on the accommoda- tion lists?-. -- -- a ice a 7 \ lal eat hh te, fs _— > aN i » i ca tel 4, s We i — 2. | F t wee. So a * Pitt BS. Red Those magnificent men and their flying machine ... if you Were confused by a headline in Wednesday’s paper telling you to turn to page 10 to learn about how we'd like to help you help Terry Fox and you turned to page 10 but didn’t find it, fear not, you were not alone. Those who read the whole paper (like you’re supposed to anyWay) will have found the item on page R2. It’s in again today on page 4. If you’re interested in what happens in a newsroom when an error like that is discovered, tune in to the television series Shogun. Watch how medieval Japanese take a long knife from their sashes and commit sepukku. Now you know... .. . here’s an enterprising story. In Monday’s OJR Classified section, under the Personals category, there was this big ad for someone play- ing the $50,000 Burger King game now on. Seems you have to put three pieces of something together to be eligible to win thé dough. This fellow, who lists his phone number says if you have number three, he’s got the other two. Will he share the loot? Has anyone got any iron-clad guarantees? Where’s P.T. Barnum when we need him?. . OJR Special . . . What’s this? Hot rods in the mayor’s parking place? The camera never lies. But Harry Barrett isn't trying to develop a sporty new image (at ‘least not this way). He was absent from Monday night’s council meeting and Ward zZ Regional Councillor Terry Mannell was taking his place. (They have a rotating system called Mayor of the Month.) Terry trucked in with his souped up machine and parked in the dignified mayor's parking place~ Irreverent. : . eos Observations Acca . .. some notable, quotable quotes: ‘‘People who wear glass shoes shouldn’t kick rocks.’ ‘Municipal politics is one of the few places a wolman can really have power in this society.” Who comes up with these gems? Politicians, of course, who have to spend their time somehow. The first is from former provincial Liberal leader Bob Nixon, the second from former Toronto Alderman Dorothy Thomas. Maybe there’s an angle here. Start a company that produces nothing but quotable quotes for notable folks. . ., THE OAKVILLE ag \ | Journal Record Established 1880 Classified 845-2809 Circulation ~ §45-9742 Main Switchboard 845-4237 Subscription Rates: By Mail — $51.80 per year in Canada — $66.60 per year outside of Canada By carrier — 75¢ a week — $37.00 a year | + single copy sales 25¢ VB ” oN! ol 3 *, Member of the Audit Bureau of Cir- (ABD) ® culation (ABC). Authorized second or = class mail by the Post Office. Depart- *cy cTat® ment No. 0589. Managing Editor Douglas Sweet Assistant Managing Editor Dana Flavelle Sports Editor Rick MacLintock Production Manager Alan Jordan Real Estate Director of Sales Harry Folland Classified Manager Judith Lennon Circulation & Promotion Director Dave Settle The contents of the Journal Record are protected by copyright and any unauthorized Use is prohibited. Metrospan Community Newspapers publishes The Oakville Journal Record, The Halton Consumer, The Richmond Hill/Thornhill Liberal, The Mississauga Times, The Etobicoke Advertiser/Guardian, The Etobicoke Consumer, The/North York Mirror, The North York ConsumoxnThe Scarkoro Mirror, THe Scarboro Constmer, \ ae | The Aurora/Newmarket/York- a a Simcoe Banner, The Be Woodbridge & Vaughan News and The Bolton Enterprise. Metrospan :