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2 The Canadian Statesman Bownanville. January 17. 1979 Section Two Editorifal BoagammeLttl Pardon Us if We Brag a Littie You will notice a full page adver- tisement in this edition of The Canadian Statesman pointing out the results of a recent survey by ur- ban geography students of Bowmanville High School, with the results so favorable to this newspaper that we couldn't resist passing them along. Normally, we don't go around blowing our own horn too much, but in recent months there have been so many newspapers from outside of this area, trying to persuade adver- tisers that their coverage was superior to ours, that this survey was most enlightening, and gratifying so far as we were concer- ned. Down through the 125 years of our existence, we have done our utmost to provide this growing community with a newspaper that would be its main source of local news which in- cluded advertising news as well as stories and pictures of local events and people. Lately, free papers from other areas are being distributed throughout the town on a mass basis. You undoubtedly have seen them in your bushes, blowing up the main street, or thrown somewhere in a heap by a courier who is more in- terested in collecting his pay than delivering. Those papers claim they are printing many thousands of copies, hoping the sheer numbers they state will influence advertisers to use them. Actùally, in most cases, there is no way an advertiser can check the accuracy of their figures. The Canadian Statesman is dif- ferent. We know subscribers want our paper because they buit either by subscription, have it delivered by a paper boy or girl who collects from the recipient, or they buy them in the stores. You'll rarely if ever see a copy of The Statesman blowing around the streets. It gets into the home where the entire family reads it and probably keeps it for several days or weeks for reference. It's not A three year battle that had been given up for lost by Scugog Town- ship council had a surprise ending last week when Ontario cabinet completely reversed itself and upheld an OMB decision denying a Scarborough businessman a severance to build a retirement home on 10 acres of a farm. Scugog has spent a considerable amount of money fighting what had originally been a cabinet order to rezone and grant a severance for this individual. And recently they had been denied an appeal to the On- tario Supreme court, an action that left no further alternatives for them to pursue. No explanations have been forth- coming from the Ontario cabinet, but it is felt in many quarters that their reversal was the result of political pressure being exerted by many people who saw the original order in council as a dangerous in- trusion into municipal autonomy. Also, granting the severance would have opened the doors for many more similar applications across the rovince from farmers who would e delighted to sell 10 acres of non productive farm land for a high price to well-to-do city dwellers looking for a rural retreat. Unfor- tunately, when these arguments were presented by members of Scugog council at a much earlier date, the cabinet ignored them as invalid and refused to withdraw or rescind their order. In fact, if we recall the events accurately, Scugog councillors at one time were fearful of court action against them by the province if they still refused to obey the rezoning order. Ex-Mayor Lawrence Malcolm an intruder. We like to think people look forward to receiving it because there's something of interest in it for them. Our circulation figures are proven and audited, so they are ac- curate. Because this area is showing great potential for growth, outside newspapers in Oshawa and even as far away as Cobourg see it as an ad- vertising market they'd like to tap. So, they are doing their utmost to undercut rates, give special deals and use all the other selling devices available. Some advertisers are falling for it while the vast majority, happily, are realizing that there's only one paper produced here, by local people, who spend their pay cheques in this community, and who are vitally interested in this com- munity's future welfare. So, the results of that recent BHS survev merely confirmed what we knew and have been telling our ad- vertisers over the years: that The Canadian Statesman is the local paper to use for best results when you want to tell local citizens what you have to offer them. We've also added a second paper, The Newcastle Independent, that is delivered free by mail outside of Bowmanville to every home within shopping area distance. It's main purpose is to provide an additional advertising medium at bargain rates for thosè who feel they would like to have their advertisements delivered to every home. We were quite surprised that it too received such a favorable response from people who were shopping here because Bowmanville citizens don't receive it unless they pick one up at the office. The above was only one of the fin- dings Mr. Ball and his students lear- ned from their survey. There were many more interesting and revealing items that will be of con- siderable interest to citizens of this area. must be feeling a considerable amount of satisfaction because he led the three year battle against the cabinet's order-in-council. One won- ders what the election results would have been for him had the cabinet announced its change of heart prior to election day in December. For some unaccountable reason, the cabinet's new decision was made on Dec. 20th and not announced until last Wednesday,. Jan. 10th. Maybe they didn't want to spoil Christmas for the disappointed Mr. Rush, the applicant for the rezoning and severance. One of these days the full story may be made public and one can only guess how it came about that an individual could, in the first place, persuade the provincial cabinet that he should be permitted to build a house on a 10-acre lot in Scugog, con- trary to local zoning. If the cabinet has so little to do that it can spend its time dealing with such applications there is something drastically wrong. Did this man have so much political clout that cabinet members felt they had to go along with his request? Or just why would they stick their noses into local affairs? Those answers haven't been forth- coming yet. Maybe it doesn't matter if that in- formation never comes to light. Enough to say that local autonomy has been restored and, hopefully, Premier Davis and his ministers will have learned an embarrassing lesson so the mistake won't be repeated. Frankly, we think it would be only fair if they went one step fur- ther along the repentance line and sent a cheque to Scugog council to pay for their costs. Millbrook's Interesting Mill Dam uarand.ice Tim e to Wonder ew ' With a whole new year extending itself lubriciously before us, perhaps it's time to wonder what we are going to do with the next 10 or 12 months. My plan for the next 12 months is to become an eccentric. This may not seem much of an ambition, but I've always admired eccentrics, and secretly desired to be one. My wife and other close friends have already suggested that I am a bit wierd, but that's their problem. After almost 20 years as a teacher of English, I'm gona spell'er like she is, the way my students do. That's only one of my eccen- tricities. I am also going to grow hair in my nostrils, not to mention my ears. No more of this to the bar- ber, "Yas, give the ears a liddle trim, and the eyebrows." I want hairy ears and eyebrows. I want to look like an ancient Jewish profit. If that isn't enough, I'll grow flurd in my belly-button. You know what flurd is, I hope. It's that cottony stuff that grows in your belly-button. Flurd was the real cause of the American civil war. The Norther- ners were growing more flurd in their belly-buttons than the Souther- ners were on their plantations. But enough of flurd. And who ever heard of a "civil" war? A war may be full of fiendish cruelty or dreadful atrocities or monumental indignities but there is nothing civil about it. A civil war occurs when you sue your neighbor to tear down the fence that is bowing over your begonias. Back to my eccentricities. Every summer, until now, I have eschewed the wearing of a tie. and I know my dignity has suffered. I've heard people say it. They say, "Look at his dignity. Did you ever see such suf- fering?" Next summer, come what may, I'm going to chew a tie. Every day. It may be a little rough, a tie a day, but with the price of lettuce what can youlose? Another thing I plan to do next year is dribble. No, no, not dribble a football about the backyard. Any ineccentric can do that. I mean dribble at the nose and mouth, con- stantly. And I will wipe it with my sleeve. This is only slightly less ec- centric that picking one's nose in public and eating it, which a real ec- centric will do every time. Do I begin to disgust you? Don't worry. It gets worse. I have well- formulated plans to wear white wool sox with black patent-leather shoes, brown shoes with a blue blazer, and white shoes with an orange tuxedo. I will wear my hair long, but' always in a discreet bun to go with my granny glasses. I am planning a big party for the Twelfth of July. So far, only the Pope and a few cardinals have accepted. But I'm expecting a few other rare birds. Like King Billy the Eleven- teeth. It promises to be quite a con- flagration. Another thing I'm going to do in the new year is Not Go South for the Winter. This is becoming one of the more eccentric things to do. And I'm going to change my whole attitude toward my gran- dboys. No more love and attention. That's not eccentric. That bourgeois. This year it's going to be "Get off my clavicle, you little mon- ster, or I'il give you a good scelpt in in lurch." That'll teach them that it doesn't pay to fool around with a relic. I have some eccentricities in store for my old lady, too. Instead of sit- ting there reading the paper, I'm going to look up, smile brightly and say, "Darling, that's the most fascinating account I've ever heard of how you made the bed and did last night's dishes and vacuumed the livingroom." She'll probably go into a state of total oblivion. There are a few other bad habits Il have to discard if I want to become the complete 20th century eccentric. (Don't try to say that one unless you have your partial plate in). I'm going to stop semi-supporting my kids. No more handouts. Perhaps this seems excessively ec- centric (see paragraph above), but at the respective ages of 30 and 26, they are no longer my business. In fact, I wish I had a business, so I could disown them. A nice hardware business, for example, with a net profit of about $50,000. I'd just love to say, "I disown you, and I'm leaving the business to your cousin Elwood, who smokes pot, hangs around the pool-hall, goes out with fallen women, and doesn't know whether his arm is glued or tatooed." I'd love to see the look on their faces. Or would I? This eccentric business is not as simple as it seems. And you'd better have your dentures in for that one. Sam at Since this is my first news column of the New Year I thought I would highlight some of the government's activities during the last session and some of its inten- tions for 1979. In all a total of one hundred and twenty-five bills received govern- ment attention of which one hundred and six were passed into law, four were withdrawn and the remaining fifteen left on the order paper for further debate. To alleviate the serious shortage of skilled workers in the province, the Ministry of Colleges and Univer- sities is working to bring renewed focus to ap- prenticeship training. In the months ahead the government, together with business, will also explore ways to expand apprenticeship and careers essential at "head office." The Occupational Health and Safety Act consolidates all legislation dealing with the health and safety of ,workers. This Act, which has been the sub- ject of detailed scrutiny and extensive debate, represents a significant advance in safe- guarding the health of Ontario's working men and women. Ceilings on earning eligibility and maximums on Work- men's compensation benefits were increased on the first of July. New benefits in minimum compensation for tem- porary or permanent disability, as well as pension increases and other allowances for dependents, were also introduced. There has also been a conscientious effort within all Ministries to improve relations 'bet- ween government and the public in keeping with the policy of better customer service and reducing bureaucratic redtape. Premier Davis has stated that in the new year the Government of Ontario will continue to press upon national policies in areas such as industrial development, manpower, inter- provincial and inter- national trade that will assure a better life for a growing population of Canadians living in On- tario. Further, government will not always be able to meet all of its new responsibilities with new revenues. It will have to be more selec- tive in providing funds where it is most needed and where it will do the most good. In discovering new ways to grow, we will have to make some tough decisions and we will have to acknowledge that many of the old arrangements and expectations will simply have to be put aside. The Government of Ontario is excited by the challenges ahead, and it is determined and con- fident that it wiIl find the answers worthy of thé very best future for our province and for this great nation of ours. The Bowmanville' Lions Club started their new year off by inviting the Honourable Lorne Henderson, Minister of Government Services, to address club mem- bers. A note of thanks to Mr. Wally Pitt and President Jim Rickard for organizing this in- formative meeting. The Durham Law Association met on January 15th to hear comments made by the Honourable Frank Miller, Treasurer of On- tario. I know President Bob Alexander and all the lawyers in atten- dance enjoyed the Treasurer's remarks. Letter to the Editor 1030 Nanton Avenue Vancouver British Columbia Canada V6H 2C2 January 15th, 1979 DearSir: Anyone who remembers the on-going anti-American demonstrations which took place in most Canadian and American cities when the U.S.A. agreed to help South Vietnam fight the communist invastion from the North, must surely be asking them- selves: "Where are all the demonstrators now that a united communist Vietnam invades a neighbouring com- munist Cambodia?" Could it be that the students served their purpose? Could it be that their leader-agitators are a little confused as to whose side they should be backing and are awaiting orders? Or are these gullible dupes to be saved for some demonstrations against those other wicked reactionary nations - like Iran, Chili, the Phillipines, South Africa, Rhodesia or West Germany? The trouble is, all that was yesterday and an apathetic public has an amazingly short memory. Little wonder free men are losing the battle for the world. And when that happens where will freedom seekers run? It's a little too early to make bookings for immigration to Mars! Sincerely, Patricia Young Congratulations to Scugog ,ueenesp,