The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

2 - Orono Weekly Times 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Years Subscriptions $42.86 + $2.14 GST = $45.00 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 Canada Periodical Fund for our publishing activities." Wednesday, August 29, 2012 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/Sports 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. We are all in this together by: Tracy Tonkinson The kids are about to head back to school and here we are again, one more year where imaginary lines are being drawn in the sand between educators and politicians. As if it were not stressful enough having to elbow your way through the back to school crowds for backpacks, pencil cases and the ever present but bizarrely named Duo-Tangs, parents once again have to keep a worried eye out for the sights and sounds of a bun fight between a government surrounded on all sides by economic minefields and a union not only famous for the best pension fund in Ontario, but also the most active union representation in Canada. Caught in between as usual are the taxpayers and their offspring. The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) president, Ken Coran is quoted as saying, "I'm sick and tired of the public being mislead, and parents and students being used as pawns in some kind of political crisis they are creating..." The `they' he is referring to are the McGinty Liberals who naturally have a different take on the situation. According to Mr. McGinty the threat of legislating the teachers back to work for a strike they haven't even called yet is about, "Our shared confidence in our future, it's about our confidence in our schools." Not to be outdone in the leaping on a barely rolling band wagon are the opposition mouthpieces. Tim Hudak's take on the situation is, "Our goal is going to be to make sure students and the parents aren't paying a price for this kind of incompetence from the government in managing the union file." A great statement for a national newspaper interview but not the real reason he is watching the situation like a hawk. As for the New Democrats, well their statement is probably closer to the truth as they accuse Liberals of trying to manufacture a crisis in education in order to win two by-elections set for Sept. 6. Education Minister Laurel Broten naturally balks at the suggestion that she could be coerced into such heinous behaviour by her leader purely for political gain. She is quoted as telling a news outlet that, "It is a real and meaningful consequence to our schools to see $473-million pulled out of our classrooms and go to teacher pay." No doubt Broten is right that $473 million going to teachers' wages is money that would not be available for teaching materials or buildings or any of the other necessities of a decent Ontario education, but a pay freeze on teachers' wages, while fiscally responsible, does not in any way assure that the education system will still have the $473 million saved in wages left in the system. But by making the teachers the scapegoat for cost cutting the government of the day is, in its own estimation anyway, absolved of the blame for future generations failing to live up to their potential. All this is not new. Every generation of kids and their parents has to deal at some point with the threat, real or imagined, of being shut out of the classroom at some point during the education cycle and in times of economic downturn, such as we are experiencing right now, it is tempting for governments to put the screws on educators and for the teachers to fight their corner. What also never changes is the way these things play out. Not once in my half century on this planet having lived on two continents, have I ever experienced a coming together of essential service providers like educators and cash strapped governments who can sit and put their heads together to work out a mutually beneficial compromise to the sticky problem of good working wages and conditions and fiscal responsibility. As tax payers we are on both sides of this divide. We want a better bang for our buck, but we also want kids educated enough to be the next generation of teachers, engineers, law enforcers, movers and shakers and of course political leaders. And yet no one seems able to see the long game. Our politicians have vision that only extends to the next by-election, our educators to the next contract negotiation. Where will that leave our children? The bumper sticker legend goes, "If you can read this thank a teacher." I've never seen one that reads, "If your child is getting an education thank a politician." While it might be tempting to believe that without politicians the world would go around more smoothly the truth is that we have between us created a world so complex that the bad behaviour of a taxpayer in Greece can have catastrophic consequences for a teacher in Ontario. It not only jolts the stock market that the teachers' union pension plan is invested in, it also puts the squeeze on the amount of taxpayers' money the government has coming into its coffers to spend on education. The point is we are all in this together; perhaps it is time to act like it. "Good things grow ­ in Ontario", and now so do the weeds! To The Editor: The Government of Ontario banned pesticides in 2009 and all parts of that ban are now complete as stores have used up their stocks of weed killers. While this is great for our environment and much safer for our children and animals it has left communities like ours looking unkempt and weedy! This summer, during my daily walks through Orono I have noticed a huge increase in weeds on sidewalks, sides of the road, people's properties, municipal properties and more. Some of these weeds have grown so tall a small animal could get lost in them! During the Antiques Festival I felt embarrassed as shoppers and visitors walked through our town with weeds sprouting everywhere. I don't advocate the use of harmful sprays but surely there must be some way we can improve the look of our sidewalks and properties. There must be some environmentally safe way to remove these weeds and if all else fails ­ pull them out! I know it's a lot of work but somehow we need to get back to a cleaner look for our town's downtown core. There might even be a new service that young people can take on to pull weeds for seniors or those who cannot do it themselves ­ and the Municipality needs to take better care of municipal property? Take pride in our unique and wonderful town and let's all do our part to keep it tidy! Erika Chapman Orono Looking Back... Gleaned from past editions of the Orono Weekly Times 25 Years Ago... Transport Minister Ed Fulton while campaigning in Peterborough recently said that Highway 115, 4 lanes, would be completed between Highway 401 and Peterborough by the year 1992. Fulton also announced that construction, which has mainly been from the south toward Peterborough in the Orono area, will be speeded up in the southbound lanes. The widening is about onethird complete, reaching north of the hamlet of Kirby to the intersection of highways 35115. He said only a short stretch south of Peterborough had been completed. Commuter and cottage country traffic often jams the highway on weekends and Peterborough officials have been pressuring the province LOOKING BACK see page 5