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2 - Orono Weekly Times Subscriptions $38.09 + $1.91 GST = $40.00 per year. No Refunds. Publishing 48 issues annually at the office of publication. "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs." Wednesday, September 16, 2009 ORONO WEEKLY TIMES - 5310 Main St., P.O. Box 209, Orono, ON L0B 1M0 E-mail: oronotimes@rogers.com or Phone/Fax: 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart Production and Display Advertising - Donna Wood Classified Advertising - Sue Weigand The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Orono Weekly times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. What an army! "You and whose army?" An off the cuff comment to someone bragging about accomplishing a major feat single-handedly. In the case of the Orono Fair, it refers to an army of individuals joined to create a team of volunteers. It truly does take an army of volunteers to pull off an event as large as the local fair. The dedication volunteers bring to their jobs is what makes the Fair the great event it is. Fair Manager John Conrad gave a figure of 340 volunteers who participated in this year's Fair. Bill Tomlinson, retiring manager of the gates, says it takes 90 volunteers alone to operate the four entrances to the Fair all weekend. Bill has taken responsibility for a smooth operation at the gates for the past five year, and he is hoping he can pass the job on to a new captain for next year's Fair. Bill and his wife Maureen say they are willing to assist a new Gate Captain, and no doubt their army of volunteers will stay engaged for a new leader. A number of food booths were run by volunteer organizations: the Junior Farmers can always be counted on for a quick bite and home made pie and ice cream. The concession stand in the arena is always run by a local volunteer group, and for the past few years the Kendal Lion's Club have served meals upstairs in the Arena. Each one of these groups provides a service while raising money for their organizations which in turn is spent in the community. At the end of the day though, one of the ways we measure the success of a Fair is by attendance figures. There are many factors which effect whether people will make the trip out to the Orono Fair; no doubt weather is one of the largest contributors. This year's weather was ideal. The sun was shining all weekend, and the temperatures were warm but not hot. In fact so much of the Fair's success is left to the weather. Yet as much work goes into organizing a Fair that is rained out, as one that enjoys good weather. A big crowd just seems to scream 'success.' It is very pleasing to see the grandstands full to capacity. A big crowd just adds a level of excitement, which in turn creates its own momentum. As much as it takes an army of volunteers to run the Fair, it also takes an army of exhibitors. There were 35 different categories of exhibitions in the Orono Fair this year. Each category has a chairperson and a committee who pull together the annual show. Before a cow, rabbit, flower, tomato, corn cob or quilt gets to the Fair to be entered into competition, many, many, hours are spent making the entry competition-worthy. Take seven-year-old Toree Finley, who won Junior Showmanship in the Junior Beef Calf Show this year and the Bill Hooey trophy. Before she could lead her calf (which was ten times bigger than she was) around the show ring for the judges, her grandfather spent hours training her to show cattle, he then loaded his cattle on to trucks and trailers to bring them to the Orono Fair, and groomed them to show standards. Prize money awarded for the different categories is just a token amount, these people compete because they are passionate about what they do. The junior categories are so important because it is a way of passing on the knowledge to the next generation. This is true for every section, from the horses and sheep to the culinary arts such as baking and the cultural expressions like needlework. Not only will these kids be the exhibitors of the future, they will join to create the next army of volunteers. So as long as there is an army of volunteers and a few leaders with the vision, and the willingness to take on some of the grunt work, the Fair will continue, and be a success. All the volunteers will be saluted at this year's Volunteer Appreciation Night, to be held on October 28th at the Arena. Politically Speaking by Bill Stockwell You gotta love September. What other month offers you a front row seat for major league baseball, football being played both north and south of the boarder, playoff and challenge golf, and the Buds hosting Boston Bruins for the opening game of the N.H.L. pre-season? It`s a sports junkies dream. Why oh why would anyone want to mess up all that prime time t.v. watching with another federal election? Do you really want to watch Jumping Jack Layton instead of Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings? Or Harper vs. Ignatieff instead of Woods vs. Stricker? Not really. Yet, unless there is an outbreak of sanity in Ottawa pretty soon it looks like we will have our fourth general election in five years. It`s becoming an annual event. But, then again, maybe if we do it long enough we`ll get it right. The past four elections have resulted in minority governments. It`s like playing for a tie and as they say in the sporting world, ties are like kissing your sister. Now, there are a lot of Canadians that think minority governments are wonderful things. They say things like, "minority governments keep the politicians honest," or "minority governments allow the N.D.P. and the Bloc an opportunity to be heard." In my opinion minority governments only guarantee that the party in power is running the country with their hands tied behind their back and we, as taxpayers, should be asking for our money back. What other country in the world can boast of the fact that a political party that has Break Up The Country as the main plank in its election platform can make deals with the governing party that guarantees that no matter what the voters voted for, it ain`t going to happen? So, we are left with the clear possibility that sometime before the 2009 Grey Cup kick-off we will be back on the campaign trail listening to the five leaders telling us what we need. Clearly, three of those five haven`t a hope of forming a government, yet they all get to play in the sandbox with public funds. The two serious contenders are Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff and they are the two that voters should zero in on and listen hard to what they are saying. Maybe this time Canadians will turn off their radios and television sets, cancel their subscriptions to the daily newspapers and slick magazines that are breaking down doors to have Canadians vote the way the media wants them to vote. Maybe Canadians will be searching out campaign platforms on their own and make a point of attending meetings in their ridings that give them the opportunity to ask candidates the hard questions and demanding straight answers. Wouldn`t it be a breath of fresh air if we could get through one election campaign without the political spin that is pushed on us twenty-four hours a day. Wouldn`t it be refreshing if Canadians could figure out for STOCKWELL see page 3