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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, April 14, 2010 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 - Roxanne Johnston 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. Street parties, chickens and fireworks We are all no doubt familiar with the Serenity Prayer, which has been adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelvestep programs. The best known form of the prayer is: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things that I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. The prayer, which can be taken as encouragement, to those embracing life-changing behaviour, can also be taken as encouragement to individuals attempting to initiate change where change is necessary. While change can often mean different things to different people, for a bureaucracy, change is an unpleasant concept, one to be avoided at all cost. This is where many see there is no wisdom in trying to initiate change through bureaucracy. Often when individuals come to municipal council asking for a change to the status quo, they are met with resistance, and countless reasons why change cannot be permitted to happen. Such was the case last summer, when Marven Whidden and some of his Morgandale Crescent neighbours appeared before council asking for permission to close the street in their residential neighbourhood to traffic for their annual street party. By all accounts, the Morgandale residents had done their due diligence; they had obtained the necessary insurance, met with all the neighbours on their street and they were prepared to abide by all the municipal by-laws. Council commissioned a staff report on the matter which resulted in a recommendation that the municipality not allow the street closure, citing safety concerns as their reason. The party went ahead without the street closure permit, and Whidden's response to his brush with bureaucracy is a plan to run his dog as a candidate in Ward 3 in the upcoming municipal election. This story is getting a lot of attention, and makes Clarington look like a municipality that is tough on fun. This week, Council slammed the cage door on back yard chickens, despite several letters and another delegation asking for a change to the by-law banning the practice of keeping them. A request by a Clarington resident several months ago for a change in the by-law banning the keeping of chickens in the urban area led to a request from council for a staff report on the issue. The staff report came back to council with all kinds of reasons why the by-law should not be changed, and recommended the status quo be maintained. This was the recommendation council adopted on Monday night. So, despite a growing trend and increased demand for the keeping of a few egg-laying chickens in urban backyards in other jurisdictions, including the city of Vancouver, there will be no chickens laying eggs legally in Clarington backyards. In January of this year, the owner of a party store in Bowmanville asked council for permission to sell fireworks all year round instead of just twice a year, five days prior to May 24th and Canada Day. The store owner told council his customers were asking for fireworks to mark family celebrations all year round. He told council that other jurisdictions were permitting the sale of fireworks all year round, but were regulating their use through a permit system. Council commissioned a staff report which, when completed, recommended against the yearround sale of fireworks in Clarington, citing concerns with safety. One would think that a forward-thinking municipality, one which has adopted the slogan "Leading the Way" as their motto, would find ways to embrace change rather than stamp it out. These ideas are not wild and outlandish concepts, these three requests are things that are permitted in other jurisdictions. It would be far more prudent for council to find ways to accommodate change than find reasons why change can't happen here. The street parties, the keeping of backyard chickens and the setting off of fireworks will continue to happen as residents discover it is much easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission. As municipal candidates come out of the woodwork for this fall's election, we want to hear suggestions and ideas of things that can be done in Clarington to make this a community that stands out as a great place to live, rather than one that squashes ideas of change. Letters to the Editor Incinerator issue notwithstanding? To The Editor: The incinerator issue notwithstanding, we find Jim Abernethy to be a man of principle and honour, who has donated his Veridian stipend (to date - $40,000.00) to the Memorial Hospital Foundation. He returns his salaryand expensesincrease to the taxpayers of Clarington. He gets our vote. Yours truly, Pat and W. K. Lycett Orono GM recalls workers, repays loan To The Editor: It is so interesting and quite good news in this community that General Motors is recalling many workers and hiring some new ones. However, buried in the fourth page of the business news is a very small item stating that GM "will make another $1.2 billion (U.S.) in loan repayments to the U.S. and Canadian governments by the end of March. It will be the company's second quarterly payment on the $6.7 billion in loans from the U.S. government and $1.4 billion owed to the Canadian and Ontario governments." News also came out this week that GM would be making another payment in June. Unlike some of the payments to several banks in the US, General Motors used these payments as loans and are paying the money back with interest to the taxpayers. This was a loan, not a "bail out," a point certainly worth noting. GM has, in fact, outsold all other manufacturers in the large US market for every single month of the recession. GM has finally been able to get its financial house in order and this bodes very well for a strong future. The GM Equinox is selling so well that it is capacity constrained which means all the Equinox that are made are sold right away. This is why GM is going to build some in Oshawa. The body stampings and body welding of these vehicles will be done at the Ingersoll plant, and then the vehicles will be sent to Oshawa for paint and final assembly. This is a very smart move to use the paint capacity in Oshawa as the paint shop is the most expensive investment with the longest lead time to build. Again, this is such good news for our community. Sincerely Judy A Hagerman, Bowmanville