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Honeymoon Prime Minister Joe Clark and his -Progressive Conservative government have had about four months to get acquainted with their jobs, with comparatively little opposition from anyone. But, they'll soon be facing formidable opponents In the House of Commons by experienced parliamentarians who formerly held office and know the ropes better than they do. They'd better be ready beeause there are rugged days ahead. Fortunately, they have little fear of the opposition parties ganging up Nearly Over to defeat them and force another election in the immediate future, but they can certainly make life miserable and frustrating with constant carping on the lack of positive programs to cure this country's ills since the new governinent took office. Prior to the election they claimed to have all the answers but so far there's been little evidence of it. Oh well, at least the next few months will be interesting . . . and we hope productive. Exercise in Futility? At long last, a review of Regional Government will get underway. But don't look for ,agy great recommendations for the study which was sanctioned by Durham's Regional Council recently. Now in its sixth year of power, the Regional system appears to be here to stay. And it will literally take an act of provincial parliament to make drastic changes in the way the Durham Region is governed. The Durham Region with its thousands of employees in eight local municipalities is so firmly entrenched that not much can be done to change it. The Region has total control over water and sewer proects and social services. It also h as a lot to say in matters such as planning and development. Any study is bound Co tell you that dismantling the regional government system will be too costly, if not impossible. It appears to us that the time to change the Durham Region would have been at the beginning of the regional form of government when things were more Well Worth The future of the old Bowmanville Town Hall is likely to become a major issue for Newcastle's elected officials to face during the next few years. Councillors will have to seriously consider where and how they will accommodate their municipal staff during the coming years. It appears that whether the existing Bowmanville Hall is repaired and renovated or whether a brand new municipal headquarters is constructed, either way there will have to be a lot of thought by our elected officials and their staff. And, of course, the undertaking will also swallow plenty of tax dollars although this observation almost goes without saying. The option of restoring and renovating the existing Bowmanville Town Hall certainly has some merit. Renovating the hall has the advantage of keeping our municipal seat of government in the downtown core. And for emotional reasons, we think that preserving the Town Hall would be a wise move because in doing so the government would keep its ties with the past. And Dear S It is great the in young make shocki appea of the now Paren and ol that e sophisi distrib daily streets flexible. Now, six years later, Durham's efforts to study itself appear to us to be too little and too late. So that's why we doubt that the committee investigating the Region will accomplish much. It will receive and file a great pile of citizens' complaints about sewer and water bills, high taxes and the remoteness of the Regional system. Most of these complaints will be justified but we doubt that they will be resolved to anyone's satisfaction. Much has been said about the frivolity at Regional Council when the 10-member committee was appointed. It seems to us as though the elected officials were treating the study lightly because they knew deep down that they were simply going through the motions of reviewing the Durham Region because of political expediency. But we'll still hope that something good can come out of the study. Any effort to seek the public's views on a topic as controversial and important as regional government represents a step in the right direction. Preserving in addition, the town hall at a downtown location will help keep the heart of Bowmanville a thriving and busy place. With the library, museum, police, firehall and town hall within a few blocks of each other, a very pleasant downtown environment is provided. Unfortunately, it looks as though the old hall will need not just a few bandages but major surgery if it is to be made useful for another decade or so. The more we wade into the topic of town hall repairs, the more expensive the proposition seems to become. At first, elected officials discussed repairs to the roof and found that the framework beneath the roof should also be investigated. We suspect that before long, the walls and basement of the building will also be involved in a full-scale renovation project. If the Bowmanville Town Hall can be restored and repaired without an exorbitant amount of money being spent, it would be wise to do so. Otherwise the municipality might be forced to build some modern glass and concrete headquarters without the tradition and character that the old Town hall possesses. Letters to the Editor R.R. 6 traffickers appear to have business to be aler Bowmanville, Ont. little fear of being caught, so aware. Do we knol September 14, 1979. they are becoming bolder and children and young peo Sieehbolder. No parent can afford becoming cleverer i a to sit back complacently and cleverer at concealini rny sinceehoethat a think, "It cannot happen to my drug supplies - in pens many people who have child." It can happen to any belt buckles, for instan terest of children and child. How about the one who The drug-trade has r people at heart will in all innocence accepts a unbelievable proportio it their duty to read the drink of pop from a "friend", a world-wide, multi rng article on drug abuse not knowing that a drug has dollar business. It kn ring in the October issue been introduced into the boundaries. It respe Ladies' Home Journal, beverage? Or the child who is laws. It cares nothing on the news stands. intimidated into using the sanctity of human I ts, teachers, pastors trafficker's wares? The situa- preys on the innocent thers need to be aware tion is rapidly reaching the shatters lives forever. vermor dvilsh nd point of no return for many, Parents, be informe ticated methods of drug children and some may even Addiction Research F ution are taking place have passed beyond. tions will be only too ;- -- t n havpasdbod.tosilbeolto in our schools, onte s and even in our homes. Arp w .a n00flt e ffine to Children barely out of allow a generation of precious kindergarten are becoming children, entrusted to our hooked on drugs in ever- care by God, to go down the increasing numbers and the drain? We must make it our counsel you and ha: helpful literature. Don until it is too late. You h much to lose. Sincerely, Barbara Brownin rt and w, that ple are and g their and in ee? eached ns. It is -billion- ows no cts no for the life. It and it ,d. The Founda- glad to nd out n't .wait ave too 19. Beautiful Swans Sugarandureice Writing Pleasures One of the deepest satisfactions in writing a column of this kind is the knowledge that you are getting into print the angers and frustrations of a lot of other people, who have no recourse for their resentments, and consequently take them out on the old man or the old lady. How do you know this? Well, because people write you letters cheering you on to further attacks, and other people come to you, per- fect strangers, shake hands warmly, and say, "By the Holy Ole Jumpin! Bill, you really hit the nail on the head." This can be a little disconcerting, as you are never quite sure which nail they are referring to. If the congratulator is a woman, I smile weakly and change the subject. Because sure as guns, though she thought you were one of nature's noblemen for your assault on male chauvinism last week, she'll turn on you like a snake when she reads tomorrow's paper, with the column exposing female chauvinism. Speaking recently to a class of potential writers in a creative writing course, I tried to pass along the personal satisfaction one gets from this type of personal jour- nalism. I emphasized the "personal" .satisfaction, because there's a lot more of that involved than there is of the other kind, financial satisfac- tion. Columnists and freelance writers have no union working for them, nor any professional association, as have doctors, lawyers, teachers. They have only their own talent and wit and perseverance with which to penetrate the thick heads and thicker skins of editors and publishers. But it's a great feeling when you vent your wrath, say, about the rapaciousness of mechanics, and you are button-holed six times in the next three days by people with hor- ror stories about mechanics you can scarcely believe. Trouble is, they all want you to write another column about mechanics, and put some real meat into it. This means, in effect, that they would happily stand in the wings and applaud when you were sued for libel. Some readers would like you to be constantly attacking whatever it is that they don't like. Capitalist frien- ds are aghast when you refuse to launch an assault on capital gains taxes. Welfarist friends think you are a traitor and a fink when you won't attack the government for not providing color TV for everyone on the take. I am not bv nature an attacker, and I think there is nothing more boring than a writer of any kind who tries to make a career of being a SMALL SCHOOL DAYS - This year, about 20,000 students in the Northumberland and Newcastle school system will be hitting the books. And if I had any advice for them and for all other persons heading back to the classrooms, it would be something like this: "The schools are yours; use them for all they're worth." School boards across Canada are spending enormous amounts of money just educating the young. Schools are bigger and more elaborate than they've ever been and teachers (whether students care to admit it or not) are more knowledgable than they have ever been in the past. North Americans are very rich when compared to the rest of the world and they have decided, rightly or wrongly, to spend a great deal of this wealth on -younger people. Our parents and grandparents didn't have elaborate schools but' it seems as though they have made up for their lost opportunities by lavishing large amounts of money on the educational system and turning it into a major industry. That's the reason why students today are not sent to work behind the plough or in a shop at 12 and 13 years of age. That is the reason why such things as school libraries, gymnasiums, laboratories, concert bands, football teams and other luxuries are available between ages six and 18. I would advise today's students to be very "hard-hitting"'journalist. Once in a while my gently bub- bling nature boils over. Throwing caution and syntax to the winds, I let my spleen have a field day and try to throw some sand in the grease with which many aspects of society are trying to give us a snow job. And that's one of the finest paragraphs I've ever written, if mixeci metaphors are your bag. Fair game for the hard-hitter are: garage mechanics, plumbers, postal workers, supermarkets, civil ser- vants, and politicians. Most of them can't hit back, and everybody hates them, except garage mechanies and their wives, plumbers and their wives, etc. etc. Smaller fry are doctors, lawyers, teachers, used car salesmen. They all squeal like dying rabbits when at- tacked, but nobody pays much atten- tion to them except doctors and their wives, etc. etc. There are few areas that even the hardest-hitters avoid. When have you, lately, read a savage attack on greedy farmers, callous nurses, or unloving mothers? And yet, there are lots of them around. One of these days, perhaps, one of these hard-hitting writers will muster enough guts, after about five brandies, to launch an all-out attack on the audacity of women, thinking they're as good as men. Boy, that fellow will learn what real hard- hitting is all about. Personally, I can't stay mad at anybody long enough to be a voice of the people, or a public watch-dog, or any of those obnoxious creatures who try to tell other people how they should feel. Otherwise, I get a great deal more joy from touching the individual life than inflaming the masses. When I get a letter from an old lady in hospital, crippled with arthritis, who has managed to get a chuckle out of my column, it makes me feel good. Recently, I got a letter from a young Scot who has immigrated to Canada. He says: "I have learned more about Canada and Canadians through reading your column that all the accumulated wisdom from the Canadian newsmagazines, novels and TV programs I have ab- sorbed." Now there is a man with his head screwed on right. If I, as a newcomer, tried to get my im- pressions of this country from newsmagazines and TV programs, I'd catch the first boat or plane home. So, I guess I'll just try to go on talking to people, getting sore, having some fun, looking for sym- pathy in the war between the sexes. That's what life is all about, not plumbers and politicans and other horrors of that ilk. By Peter Parrott black and white balls these days. In the Town of Newcastle there are about 50 soccer teams and if you multiply that by 16 members per team and add up the coaches, referees, and parents of soccer players, you'll get the idea of how popular this sport has become. In a few years time it might even give hockey a run for its money. ABOUT THIS COLUMN - Many people think newspaper work is a good opportunity to practice one's creative writing ability. But the fact of the matter is that it isn't. Of course there is a challenge in writing up a news or feature story. For example, to explain a municipal by-law or budget in readable, interesting and accurate prose is a good test of anyone's creativity. However, newspaper reporting has to be tightly controlled by explaining who, what, why, when, where and how. In this column, the Statesman'.s news staff will try to get away from the regular reporting assignments and do some off-the-cuff writing just for the heck of it. We hope to include in this column anecdotes, personal observations and short essays on just about any topic that we care to mention. We'll take turns writing this weekly epistle so that our outlook is fresh and original each time. We hope that you will enjoy reading this column as much as we are looking forward to writing it. See you next week! "selfish" about school and squeeze out of the system every drop of learning, experience and enjoyment they can get. One of the nice things about schools is the fact that it lets you learn skills you will need in the outside world while remaining inside a sheltered environment. School lets you try out a variety of skills (from football to algebra) and if you fall flat on your face, it isn't the end of the world. It's only school after all and you can pick up the pieces and start again. To make the best use of their school days, students should try out for sports, badger their teachers with lots of questions, read as many books, join as many clubs and meet as many people as possible. Anyone who throws himself into a school career with this kind of attitude is bound to be a success later in life. Of course this kind of advice is probably wasted on the majority of students. In spite of our elaborate multi- million dollar schools, our well-stocked libraries and gymnasiums, you can't beat good old-fashioned experience which is truly the best teacher. There are some things that the school system just can't do. SOCCER FEVER - If you think there has been a lot of soccer photos in the paper lately, you're quite right. And here's the reason why: Our well-informed sources tell us that about 700 youngsters here are kicking around the TALK MIN& . ..... ..