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2-Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, July l8 19 j SecondClas M.1ailRg-sbt,.. Numbel 00,368 P.bls*idEvery wed.enday Lt theodffîe of Pobthon-l MinStreet Orono Boy C. .oter. Editor A good move If the government of David Peterson has won no brownies for the handling of the Sunday shopping issue, an issue that has been bunkled since day one then perhaps they are on the right side of a decision to undertake some decentralization of their Ministry head offices. The announcement of the move to Peterborough with the head office of the Ministry of Natural Resources will certainly gain wide support in that city and in other neighbouring centres where some spin off effect would be expected. One of the grievances today is that of transporation - get- ting from A to B with some kind of temper still left. It will never improve, certainly in the Greater Toronto Area, if there exists a continual dumping of everything into'the central core. Thi jam- ups just get wider and increasingly longer. How much longer can we continue to build more roads and we have often felt that more emphasis and funds should be directed to rapid transit schemes rather than more roads. If there is a problem in getting people out of their cars then let the traffic jams increase and out of necessity people will make the transfer to public transit. Unfortunately this is not the way the political system works and the system will limp along until such time as there is only one answer - jump to public transit. We are going through a similar transition with garbage. Solutions are available, or at least particially available, if there was the political will to make bold moves. We continue to toy around the issue, moan and groan, close our eyes and ears, to then carry on as before. The moveto Peterborough and other areas with ministry offices is but a little dint in the problems of transportation in Metro. A great number of dints would possible destroy the pro- blem. In the meantime Peterborough can count its blessings with a further 500 well paying jobs. Post Office problems obscured by euphemisms by Gord Mills The other day in the post, I received "Keeping in touch..." from our local federal M.P., Ross Stevenson. One of the items in the booklet was called, "Post Office Rumos". In the article, Ross writes about rumors surrounding the closure of post offices in Oshawa and Newcastle. He goes on to say, "could you believe the Post Office would shut down in a city the size of Oshawa. Speaking to the rumor regarding Newcastle Post Office he says, "In the event of any changes that must be made, the full range of postal services must be available to Newcastle residents." Isn't there a world of difference between the above two statements? Yet, they purport to describe the same event. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (5th edition) defines "euphemism" as "the substitution of an inoffensive or mild expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. What our M.P. has done, is to substitute the unpleasant fact that the postal services, as they are known in Newcastle, will, sooner or later, be in the hands of local business, or a store in the area - with the substitution of a milder fact an assurance to them, that in any event, a full range of postal services will always be available. Make no mistake about it, if Newcastle and Orono residents hope to keep their post office as is, they will have a fight on their hands. It hasn't been hard not to notice the changes in the Orono Post Of- fice since Canada Post decided to work toward the privatization of the operation of small offices. Miss- ing now are the cascading petunias around the outside of the building and at Christmas time the huge cards in the windows, drawn by local children. Inside the building, the staff wear haunted worried looks, facing possible mid-life job loss, and small pensions that won't measure up in the future. Is it any wonder that the friendly zip in the staff has been zapped right out of them. The Orono mid-core rumor last Friday, was news of Orono Post Office being closed up during the lunch hour, along with cuts in staff hours. Post Mistress Carol Boyd refused comment when I asked her about it, as did the others. Carol and staff didn't have to answer my question, the answer was already there, in their eyes. No imposed Canada Post "rule of silence or else" could ever erase that look of hopelessness. Perhaps, the most heinuous role played out by Canada Post in Orono, bas been the pitting of life- long residents against one another, over their determination to shift traditional postal services to the private sector. Wendy B's owner told me, that since her agreement with Canada Post was signed to provide limited postal services in her store, some village people that she has been friends with all her life, refuse to speak to her. What an utterly repulsive situation to find yourself in, and right in the comïmunity you were raised. Canada Post is wrong to pass postal services to the private sector. The Post Office, traditionally fills a unique role in village life. It brings people into the town core, it has become a meeting place, a place of information exchange, a place to get passpott applications signed, a place to get needed forms, and perhaps above all, a place of con- fidential trust in the handling of our sensitive and valuable mail. If, some village folks are filled with anger over the position taken by Canada Post in Orono, then they should be making it known in the areas that count, to Donald Lander, President of Canada Post, to our M.P., and our M.P.P. The last place anyone should be venting their anger over the situa- tion, is amongst themselves. Please think about it, Orono has a reputa- tion over the years of being "A good place to live" let's try and keep it that way. Letter to Editor Letter written to Mrs. Patti Barrie, Clerk for the Town of Newcastle from Mrs. Helen MacDonald. Dear Mrs. Barrie: It would be appreciated if this correspondence could be provided to Council through the Minutes of the next Council meeting, I believe July 16, 1990. For several months, the Newcas- tle Community Liaison Group (ap- pointed by the Federal Siting Task Force) has been meeting in our community. I have attended a number of their meetings, and am very concerned about the direction in which the CLG is headed, which I shall address as follows. For your information, the CLG meets every Tuesday, and has had several "community' meetings (ie. Courtice, Kendal, Newtonville) which seemed to be information sessions for area residents. Unfor- tunately, these community meetings have been postponed indefinitely. There is, in my mind, a far more serious concern which I feel must receive Councils immediate atten- tion. Without reviewing the history of the Port Granby Low-level Nuclear Waste Site in great detail, the primary factor here is that, bas- ed on the wishes of the residents of this community, Council has previously passed a Resolution which states its position that the nuclear waste is to be removed (which has previously received sup- port from then Opposition Leader, Brian Mulroney). Council bas quite recently reaffirmed this position. However, it is a fact that the CLG continues to review the position that Newcastle must consider being a "host" community. Through historic misadventure, Newcastle is a "source" community - albeit an unwilling one at that! There are very serious implications about becoming a "host" community. One that immediately comes to mind is that if the location on the bluffs at Lake Ontario is unstable (serious erosion being one of the problematic factors), then my ques- tion is: "WHERE IN THE TOWN of NEWCASTLE WILL the NUCLEAR WASTE BE SITED, IF THE CLG IS CONSIDERING OFFERING NEWCASTLE as a "HOST" COMMUNITY? WILL THERE BE OTHER FUTURE WASTES? I suggest that the process is not working in the best interests of this community. In 1986, when the Siting Process was in its develop- ment stages, 1, and many others, participated in the formulation of the process. It appeared to be a great improvement in previous Careview Manor obtains council support council to support the application, and said if the application had been made by the former owners, she would vote against approval. She spoke favourably as to the im- provements that have been made by Mrs. Forest, and that unfortunately she was being saddled with thoughts of the former operation. She also noted that there was no provincial funds provided for the home and that as to the relationship between bedrooms and washrooms the facility was better provided for than those operated by the Region of Durham. Counc. Hamre also pointed out that the town had issued a building permit in the not too di'stant past allowing the occupancy to be in- creased to 44 residents. We are becoming a more humane society said Hamre "and there but for the grace of God go I.' methods of siting (baseu .ie "DAD" principle - Decide, Act, Defend) which were entirely negligent in the area of public par- ticipation, information and agree- ment. As Council may recall, the previous process led to serious con- frontation. t now question if the current process is working any bet- ter? The CLG was to go before Coun- cil recently to provide a verbal in- terim report on its progress. This was postponed - I don't know for how long. Last week a motion came before the CLG which suggested that an invitation be extended to Council to attend the CLG meetings. It appeared that the in- tent was to provide Council with an opportunity to provide some background discussion on Council's Resolution to not be a "host" community, meet the members of the CLG, etc. However, despite sarcastic com- ments from a CLG member that "Council communicates to us through the newspapers", the mo- tion was defeated. In summary, I am providing you with some of my own personal observations. I wish to emphasize the following: The CLG members have all sign- ed a contract. It appears that, based on their contractual obligations, they feel they must consider the possibility of being a "host" com- munity, despite Council's directives and the wishes of the residents of this community. It is worth noting that the CLG's in both Port Hope and Hope Township signed iden- tical contracts. Furthermore, their respective Councils' passed similar Resolutions indicating their desire to not be a "host" community. These two CLG's seemed to have had some particular motivation which encouraged them to observe their Council directives. In addi- tion, there was a direct working relationship with their Council, in- cluding Council presentations, Council attendance at meetings, etc. I wonder why it is that in Newcastle there has been no move to develop a direct working rela- tionship between our CLG and Town Council?? This situation is mocking the democratic process - no heed of Council's Resolution - no direct communication with Council - no clear direction of CLG mandate - perceived interference from the Siting Secretariat. Who is in charge here - the community, Council, or Ottawa?? It is my hope that Council will take some time to review this matter in depth. Are we going to address the wishes of this community, but more importantly, are we going to deal with this environmental blight? Sincerely, (Mrs.) Helen MacDonald YES! Get the facts. Let's Talk. Call the OntariqMinistry of HealthAIDS Hqtline 1-80d'-668-AIDS St. Saviour's Anglican Church MILL STREET, ORONO, ONTARIO Rev. Douglas W. Hall 987-4745 SUNDAY SERVICE and CHURCH SCHOOL 9:30 a.m. ORONO GA TES OF PRAISE BIBLE MINISTRY 5414 Main Street Orono, Ontario Inter-Faith Full Gospel SERVICE 11:00 A.M. Rev. Lyle L. West Office 983-9341 Personal Ministry Rev. Margaret F. West Res. 983-5962 Counselling ORONO PASTORAL CHARGE Minister: Rev. Fred Milnes 983-5502 Secretary: Marlene Risebrough Organist: Kirby Arlene Bolton Organist: Orono Stella Morton BIBLE STUDY Thursday, July 19th 8:00 p.m. At the Manse SUMMER SERVICES Sunday, July 22nd Kirby - 10:30 a.m. 983-5009