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2 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, February 22,1984 Section Two Editorial Comment ) Morgan Offers Solution asked us for $300,000 this year, $180,000 next year, and $120,000 two years hence. Some years ago Hydro made a payment to the town of $400,000 to which was put into an a/c for a new administrative centre which was vetoed by the taxpayers. (The Diamond Plan.) $300,000 of this money will take care of installment one with $100,000 left to be applied to installment two. This money has been drawing interest for about four years and this interest must now amount to $100,000 (or perhaps more). So $80,000 from this source will complete installment two. The balance will go toward installment three which might be short something less than $100 thousand. I believe we have an Ontario grant of $10 thousand (Bicentennial) and the hospital fund would seem a good place to put this money. You will recall, and this goes back a few years, that our treasurer deposited $100 thousand in a non interest a/c. When this was discovered (presumably by the auditors) council decided we had lost about $32 thousand in interest and as this interest should have credited to some project the money was made up from another a/c. Since that time, there have been several occasions when it was found necessary to find money for some item not budgeted and this money has always been forthcoming and from different a/c's. The point I am making, Mr. Mayor, is that you must have credit balances in several a/c's which is ready and available and you, no doubt, will be able to find enough to look after the balance needed for installment three. That is my idea of how council, with a minimum of fuss, can fulfill its obligations to the Memorial Hospital Fund. Please feel free to call on me for advice anytime. No sweat. Morgan Dear Johnny: In a recent Statesman there was an article "Mayor Replies to Morgan." From this article I quote, "The Town of Newcastle now faces two major projects, the Bowmanville arena and the Memorial Hospital. It would be good to hear from Morgan and others about how to finance these projects." To begin, I am a little flattered. Usually any question reaching council is turned over to the chief administrative officer for a report. We seem to be broadening our scope. I am delighted we have only two projects in the books. I read not too long ago that staff had been instructed to commence a study on re-establishing the opera house on the second floor of the Town Hall. (This is the area where the roof was leaking for many years.) The staff were also to consider the main floor and then turn their attention to the police and fire building with thoughts of extending it to the east. This would most certainly be a major project, but apparently is now not under consideration as we now list two projects as necessary at this time and they are named above by the Mayor. Great. With two projects, the first thing to do would be to rate them by importance and the hospital would be number one. It, apparently, is a three year project which would take us through '86. After that, would come the arena, which would also take some years and as the campaign wouldn't be starting until '87 it might well not be the responsibility responsibility of many of the present council. The chairman of the Memorial Hospital Foundation has asked council for $600,000 as part of the 2.4 million the community must raise to get this 5.4 million project completed. The Foundation . has • • • By Peter Parrott The animal rights movement is one of the more bizarre special- interest groups to emerge from the woodwork woodwork during the last few years. Animal rights activists activists have made their presence known by protesting protesting alleged cruelty to animals through certain certain agricultural practices practices and research methods. Extremists in the organization organization have even raided animal research laboratories or slashed the tires of animal control control vehicles in order to draw attention to their cause. They argue that animals animals should be treated with kindness and with respect since they are living creatures, just like you and I. That's a kind of motherhood issue with which few of us would disagree. In fact, those who think animals should be treated with brutality or cruelty need psychiatric psychiatric help before they hurt somebody. But I do take issue with this lobbying group on several points. For one thing, it seems naive to seek better better conditions for bunny rabbits and puppy dogs when there are millions of humans in this world who live in pain and suffering through disease, hunger, war, and all of the other plagues common common to less fortunate areas of the world. The animal rights activists activists should also realize that it is not people who inflict the most pain on animals but other animals themselves. Unless things have changed in the last 10 minutes, the natural world is one in which cats will eat mice, dogs will devour rabbits, snakes swallow . frogs and so on. The real fanatics among animal rights lobbyists behave as if man invented suffering suffering and inflicted it on animals. That theory will not wash. The natural world had its share of suffering long before humans developed slaughterhouses or animal animal research laboratories. I am not suggesting that humans should ac cept a jungle mentality in which people behave like beasts of prey and live only according to the survival of the fittest. fittest. In fact, over the years, considerable progress has been made in caring for the sick and protecting the weak. One hopes that progress along these humanitarian lines will continue. But, in the meantime, using animals for food, clothing and possibly even research (with care and humaneness, of course) continues to be part of the natural order of the world. And I think it is very significant that animal rights is a movement centred in cities where people can have a topsy-turvy view of nature. nature. I expect the points I am raising can be very easily grasped in farming farming or hunting and fishing fishing communities where life and death are as much a part of everyday living as the familiar cycle of night and day. The goal of a vegetarian vegetarian utopia in which every animal dies in its sleep of old age is unrealistic, unrealistic, unreachable, and misguided. Canadian Statesman 623-3303 (0Na Durhim Counly'i Great Family Journal Eilabllihed 130 years ago In 1854. Alio Incorporating The Bowmanville News The Newcastle Independent TheOrono News Second class mall registration number 1561 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 62-66 King St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 K P JOHN M Editor -- JAMES Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All liyouti and compoilllon of advailltamanli produced by Iha amployata of The Canadian Slaleaman, The Newcastle Independent end The Jamea Publishing Company Limited ere protected by copyright and must nol ha reproduced without written permission ol the publishers. $15,00 a year -- 6 months $8,00 strictly In advance foreign -- $45,00 n year Although ovury procnulion will bo tnkon to avoid error. Tho Canadian Statesman accepts advertising in Hr, columns on the understanding Hint il will not bo liable lor any error In Iho advertisement published hereunder unless a proof ol such advertisement is requested In writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business olhco duly signed by Iho advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted In writing Ihorobn, and In that case il any error so noted Is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman Its liability shall not exceed such a portion ol the entire cosl ol such ndvvrlislment as Iho space occupied by the noted error bears to tho whole space occupied by such advertisement Condado Beach, San Juan SUGAR and SPICE Keep On Writing Well, it looks as though I'm going to have to continue writing this here dang column whether I like it or not.. People from all over the country have sent their condolences and told me to keep the column going. There's a truly beautiful letter from Elda and George Cadogan of New Brunswick, old, almost ancient friends, from my newspaper days. They were instrumental in urging me to start syndicating my column. Another from Mr. and Mrs. Polischuk, Meacham, Sask. "Through your column, we felt we'd come to know you and your wife -- something like the morning man on your favorite station. You seem like such special people. Please do keep writing." A sweet note from Sister Mary Hamilton of Camrose, Alta. "Your writing brings me, as I'm sure it does for countless folks, many a chuckle, and always hope, to a mixed-up, restless world ... May your 'grandboys' be not far from you and continue to be a joy." This along with a spiritual message of hope and faith. And a long not from a little kid who : lived across from us when I was a mere youth, Lorna Munro. She reminds me that her mother and mine were best friends. These were the depression years. "I never heard them speak to, or of, each other except by "Mrs. Smiley" and "Mrs. Munro." This was the manner of life in those days and did, in no way, reflect less caring than more familiar names would indicate... "When you were married, I think your mother thought Susie was very young and you were a man-of-the- world (dammit, I was, Lorna). I remember first seeing Susie, looking so lovely, with long brown hair." And a lot more from this pretty little kid, who is now a mother, planning a wedding for her own daughter. She adds, "Please continue. Many people will gain strength from how you work your way to a new life, sadly thrust upon you." And many more in like vein. So I'm stuck with youse, and youse are stuck with me. There was one more letter that I almost threw out a junk mail without opening. Glad I didn't. It told me that, thanks to my local funeral director, Dean Nicholls, also a friend, that a (ree would be planted, in the Grand Valley ' Conservation Foundation, "In living memory of your wife." Thanks, Dean. I've taught both his kids, and they are fine young people. I've been at a party when his wife, Elaine, was snowmobiling, and went through the ice, pregnant. Right now, just as I'm writing this column, I received a long-distance call from San Clemente, from a lady who still receives her old home-town paper, the Kindersley weekly, expressing sympathy. I think San Clemente is in California, but she gave me her phone number and asked me to visit, if I'm travelling. We both choked up on the phone. Well, this is becoming a little sick. I've merely touched the surface of the letters, calls, cards, food. I'll try to cut it out . So. Suse has a grave, which she didn't want, a tree planted somewhere, and a scholarship fund for piano students, which she would have loved, and for which money is still coming in. I hope she is at peace. She didn't have much during her life, because of her nature. She was a perfectionist. If it was a piano exam, she'd tackle the most difficult piece. If it was a university essay, she'd take on a topic which made even the professors wince. Something like: "The Interrelationship Interrelationship Between William Blake and the Philosophy of Hegel." No way. I always chose something I could handle, like 'Emily Dickinson Wrote Runt Poetry." And she was the same around the house. Some women clean their ovens once a month, once a year. She did it every week. But her misfortune was that she married a slob, who thought a bath once a week was plenty, if not over-doing it. When the lawn was raked, she wanted every leaf off it. There was no ring around the collar around this place. She fought with plumbers, electricians, electricians, the gas company, and anyone else who tried to give her the go-around, while I read the paper. She made me change my underwear. She nearly went through the roof when the grandboys ran their cars and trucks over her polished coffee table. And yet she went to my daughter's, and fed, changed, babysat babysat and gave moral support for two or three weeks after they were born. She grouched and grumbled at me about our rotten kids, who are always broke. Then she'd send them a handsome cheque to bail them out. When she was on a high, I use to hide, because she wanted to do eight things at once. When she wasn't, I came out of hiding and tried to convince her that every man does the best he can, which would make her flare up and say, "O.K. You cook the dinner." 140 Ontario St. Bowmanville, Ont. February 14,1984 Dear John: Well, as I didn't get an invitation invitation to the birthday party at City Hall today I thought I had better drop you a few lines on the most recent developments. As you are aware, the Council had a meeting on Monday of this week (February 13) and the room was filled with taxpayers who were not too happy with their new assessment. I attended the meeting and as the Council procedure calls for the parties addressing council to take 10 minutes for their presentation then Council may ask questions. After the 10 minute period, Council (some said nothing) (just as well) asked a couple of questions and some questions had nothing to do with the subject and then when the time came for the Mayor to ask questions 1 timed him and he took 28 minutes and 1 am yet to hear a question. All kinds of excuses in my opinion, Init no solutions. Now you might say that this is an awful statement to make but as the Mayor has said that he never reads my letters then he will never know what I am saying. The one message that I did get from the Mayor was that he would welcome any person who cared to come into his office and look at the budget and if they could show him where it could be cut so as to save the taxpayers money, he would welcome it. Being the type of fellow that I am, I made the necessary arrangements arrangements in regards to my regular chores and went into the Mayor's office to find out that the office (including his Secretary's) were in darkness, I proceeded then to the Clerk's office only to find out that the Mayor had left for Toronto and the clerk said he would be there most of the day and I replied that can't be so as he has a dinner engagement with the hospital board at 11:80 n.m, (I assume at our expense). The clerk said he was not aware of it but like myself there might be the odd thing that goes on that lie and I nre not aware of, Nevertheless, John, I feel honored that the Mayor, knowing that I was in the crowd took the time to invite me into his office to show me a confidential document that I would venture a guess that all members of Council have not seen. Again, so much for the confidential policy. While I was talking to the clerk, I asked if the birthday party that was being held that day (on the taxpayers' time) was open to the public as it would appear that we were paying the time, He indicated to me that lie was unaware of any party just because somebody is what is known as a Valentine baby. Oh well, they will probably have chocolate chocolate cake and my diet will not let me eat that and the Mayor, as I read it, is on a diet also, so I guess he won't get an invitation either, My guess is that he is not even aware of the event. 1 had an occasion to go into the City Hull a week ago and on looking over Bylaw 83-115,1 noticed it is a bylaw to hire the administrator and on rending it I noticed where lie was hired on a two year contract at a salary of $43,077 per year, with increases in accordance with Town policy (I wonder how the poor people live), Also 1 noticed that in item 4 it states as follows: He shall be entitled to no less that three weeks vacation per annum calculated calculated under the terms of the contract. Now, as I don't know what the contract is, I proceeded to ask the clerk who 1 presume drafted the bylaw and he said he would have to check it out and he would get back to me, as he, like myself, did not know what it meant. My position is this. It says no less than but does it mean 23, 43, or what does it mean? To date I have received no reply. I then proceeded to ask different members of council who were responsible. (I presume) as to how long a person had to work for the Town in order to qualify for vacations and my answer from all was one year and then you would receive two weeks vacation. Oh, well, maybe on a two year contract you get more consideration than the permanent staff or on the other hand was the matter rubber stamped without the knowledge of its contents? Time alone will tell whether you before vacation is allowed. As I look over another bylaw (I don't have the number), it proves my point that the taxpayers are not a bad bunch of people to work for and as I Iook it over I see in item number six of Schedule A. It says in part that if the person (in this case the bylaw officer) does not meet the satisfaction of the corporation, the corporation corporation shall consider offering employment to the bylaw person in such other position as may be available and for which he is qualified. It would appear on the face of it that under a contract such as this you can't lose. Well, John, this has been a longer note to you than I had originally intended but I thought you should have this information (I hope it is not confidential). In reference to the meeting with the Mayor on the budget cuts, I would think that for a start wc could stop any increase in salary for persons already making $40,000 plus also don't purchase any new furniture just to sit computers on, also don't purchase micro computer systems and there are many more, but as I noticed this might be highly confidential, so just forget where you heard it. So long for this time, I hope I have not ruffled too many feathers and also for what it is worth Happy Birthday whoever you are. Yours truly, Ken Hooper Dear Editor: Open Letter to the thoughtless person who parked the car on the south shoulder of Highway 2 facing west with his lights on after dark, Thursday night, February 16. Only by coming to a dead stop in the middle of the highway could I see where you were and avoid driving southward around you right into the ditch and directing those cars following me to do the same, perhaps causing loss of lives. Think about the consequence of breaking the law (facing the wrong way on a street - especially with lights on after dark). M.C. Young