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Section Two The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, November 14,1984 3 Editorial Comment Santa Coming to Town If you're still wondering how September September and October could have passed us by so quickly, you'll need a gentle reminder that the 23rd annual annual Santa Claus Parade is here already. already. That's right. Difficult as it may be to believe, Santa and friends will be arriving this Saturday at 10:30 a.m. And if Santa is here, can Christmas Christmas be far behind? ' Of course Santa's arrival doesn't come as a surprise to all of us. Others are much more well-prepared. well-prepared. We are referring, of course, to those who have spent the last few weeks preparing Christmas floats to escort the Jolly Old Elf when he makes his appearance. Then, there are those who work on costumes and make-up. The bands are practising, special parade vehicles are being polished up, the marchers are rehearsing and parade fillers are being prepared. prepared. To hundreds of the parade participants and to the parade organizers, organizers, the arrival of Santa is no last-minute occurrence. Santa's parade may catch some of us off guard, but we are proud to say that in Bowmanville and area, St. Nick has lots of helpers. They never fail to give him a rousing rousing welcome. And the thousands of parade viewers do their part by braving the cold to launch the traditional traditional Christmas season. Few events draw friends and acquaintances acquaintances closer together than Christmas. And one would have to look very hard to find an event which draws the community closer together than does the Bowmanville Bowmanville Santa Claus Parade. See you Saturday! Volunteers Honored Congratulations are in order for the 1,984 citizens of Ontario who will soon receive bicentennial medals. Of these medalists, eight are from the Town of Newcastle and, of course, they deserve special thanks. But when you talk to any of the award-winners, you'll soon discover discover that they can't quite understand understand why they were singled out for recognition. The medalists will quickly note dozens of acquaintances who would be equally eligible for medals. And they are right, of course. Of the approximately approximately 2,000 recipients, there are probably closer to two million Ontario residents who in some way act of their own free will to leave their world just a little better than they found it. Perhaps the whole reason bèhind the bicentennial medals is to thank all of Ontario's volunteers by singling singling out only a few for special recognition. recognition. The government should understand understand better than anyone else the value of volunteers. Were it not for their efforts, we would face a horrendous cost in social services. Just think of the price that would be paid if every hockey coach or every scout leader or every visitor to senior citizens was on a government government salary. Naturally, it's impossible to honor every volunteer. But then, volunteers are the last people in the world to crave such rewards anyway. After the award- winners remind you that they don't really deserve any special recognition, recognition, they will also tell you something something else. They will say that they never intended to perform community community service for any reason except the personal satisfaction they receive. receive. It's part of their job or it's part of their leisure hours. It is something they do quietly and without much fanfare, whether or not any formal recognition is forthcoming. Almost without exception, volunteers volunteers believe that the satisfaction they receive outweighs any help they might provide. Let us take this occasion to congratulate congratulate the eight bicentennial award winners from the Town of Newcastle and all those who make extraordinary efforts to improve their community through various means. It's unfortunate that medals cannot cannot be given to all of you. But in this Community, there would be so many recipients that no one would know where to begin. Your work doesn't go unrecognized. unrecognized. But even if it did, you wouldn't change a thing. Your service service has its own reward. And that's what being a volunteer is all about. Budget Serves Two Masters The idea behind the Finance Minister's mini-budget is straightforward. Mr. Wilson plans to improve Canada's Canada's economic health by taking his fiscal axe to government spending. According to this theory, problems such as unemployment will take care of themselves once the deficit has been brought under control. A healthy government balance sheet will, supposedly, encourage investors to spend money in Canada. Canada. And that will mean new factories, factories, new stores, and new employment employment opportunities for everyone. But a glimpse of Thursday's financial financial plan makes us wonder if the government has done enough to accomplish accomplish this goal. If you're going to cut the deficit, you have to make a noticeable improvement improvement or else you'd be better off doing nothing at all. One should keep in mind, of course, that not all economists would agree that cutting cutting government spending is the fastest road to an economic recovery. recovery. If you are serious about trimming government spending, you have to make the kind of ruthless political judgments which are bound to be unpopular. Michael Wilson's mini-budget indicates indicates that the Tories are only willing to make changes that are politically palatable. They decided, for example, to cut back on cabinet ministers' salaries but dared not touch baby bonus cheques for the well-to-do. They closed embassies, but they skated around the issue of universal universal social programs such as child tax exemptions, and old age pensions pensions for upper-income retirees. The government emphasized that it is reducing the civil service workforce workforce by some 3,600 positions. But that's no cause to shed tears for civil servants. About 11,000 of them quit each year for various reasons. The elimination of 3,600 is a drop in the bucket and can be accomplished accomplished by attrition. In short, the mini-budget is one that attempts to serve two masters. It tries to be politically appealing and economically sound at the same time. The problem with costcutting costcutting is that every economic gain results in a loss of political ground. And each action which is politically attractive may harm the economic program. A government with the kind of a majority enjoyed by the Progressive Progressive Conservatives should have been ready to make some unpopular unpopular spending cuts right at the beginning beginning of its fdur or five-year term. If it can't face tough decisions now, it's doubtful that it can make those same decisions after a year or two in office. Canadian Statesman 623-3303 (*CNA Durham County's Great Family Journal Established 130 yearsego In 1854. Also Incorporating The Bowmanville News The Newcastle Independent The Orono 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 l/L»' JOHN M. JAMES Editor -- Publisher GEO. R. MORRIS Business Mgr. BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition ol advertisements produced by the employees ol The Canadian Statesman, The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and must not bd reproduced without written permission olthe publishers. $15.00 a year--6 months $8.00 strictly In advance foreign -- $45.00 a year Although uvory precaution will bo taken to avoid error. The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising in ils columns on llio understanding that it will nol bo liable lor any error in the advertisement published hereunder unless a proof ol such advertisement is requested in writing by the advortlsor and returned to The Canadian Statesman business of lien duly signed by Iho advorlisor and with such error or corrections plainly nolod In writing thereon, and in thal case il any error so noted is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman its liability shall not exceed such a portion ol the entire cost ol such advortislment as the space occupied by the noted error bears to Iho whole space occupied by such advertisement 1 Thistle Valley Park SUGAR and SPICE Somebody Hates Me Let's see. What's new today? Ah. College teachers going on strike. Librarians coming off strike. Auto workers going on strike. Ü.S. won't help with acid rain. Police demand return of capital punishment. Russians accuse U.S. of noncooperation noncooperation in their new "peace" overtures. Man stabs woman '48 times and is sentenced to three months. Well, the magnificence of the world is unfolding in its accustomed manner. But all is not lost. A black bishop from South Africa has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Eugene Wielan has not been sent to Italy. (Not because he couldn't speak Italian, which he couldn't, not to mention English, but because he was a Liberal). It must be giving Joe Clark, who has been stabbed in the back so often it's become a minor irritation, and has had his heart cut out and thrown to the wolves, a great deal of satisfaction to be the ropeman on the guillotine. Feel some pity for poor old Eugene, and poor old Bryce Mackasey, who didn't get to go to that villa in Portugal. One of two things happened. Either they had too much pride to scuttle into a judgeship or the Senate, or they were too greedy to settle for something so small and so sordid. Your guess. You may, believably, wonder what all that leads to. We shall see. It's extremely difficult today to be an alert, aware, compassionate person when policemen are shot like rabbits, there is war all over the world, children are starving, men beat up their women, and you haven't even got your leaves raked. As a sad, sad result, we are inclined to turn in upon ourselves, to blot out the horror and the violence and the brutality of society, and to lock ourselves into a little cupboard composed of money and "things" and "relations", hoping the nasties will go away. They won't. Perhaps our wincing and flinching are an example of the human spirit trying to stay alive in a time when the brutishness of the Middle Ages looks like a Sunday School picnic, in comparison. Perhaps it's something older than that: a retreat to the family, the cave, the tribe, when the earth shook and the great beasts howled their final agony. And man whimpered. Hey, that's pretty good, eh? Don't worry. I'm not going to go on like a guru. I'm just trying to establish the fact, which every reader knows, that our own affairs become more important than a train wreck in Italy, a flood in India, or an outbreak of the dire rear in Hayfork Centre. To get to the point, the Mulrooneys are after me. Not Brian and Mila, bless their hearts. They can take a joke. They wouldn't try to rub me out. I don't think. No, it's the double oo Mulrooneys that are upset. I made an unfortunate remark in a column about "Mulrooney" sounding as though it was the other side of the tracks. It was about as funny as an old rubber boot. But I did applaud the lady Mila, for many aspects of her character. Now this. In my old paper, where I was editor, appears this scurrilous bit: "Re Bill Smiley's column. So far as Mila Mulroney and a 'name sounding from the wrong side of the tracks' is served up by 'Mr. Constant Mouth, 1944, Bill Smiley (ex-naxi war camp nightmare) ' ; "A Mulrooney myself, I ponder "constant-mouth's deeds of heroism or heroism-Znot. "And do riot make sport of his torture, nor judge his (imprisoned utterings) he now sings: 'fell well' or "He that cannot praise." It is signed: "Barbara Mulrooney, Cain Mulrooney, 3-dimensional writer-poet-artist humanitarian." What in the name of whatever is a three-dimensional writer? Anyway, there were a lot of... and.. .'s in the published letter, suggesting it was originally libellous or worse. Just don't plant a bomb in my bathroom, or I'll have the whole lot of the Smileys down on yiz Mulrooneys and we lived on the other side of the tracks, too. When we felt like it. But closer to home, somebody hates me. It's sort of nice. I'm sick of being a good, gentle, kind man like Bill Davis, Prime Minister of Ontario, who was also described as shifty, ambiguous, slippery, ruthless and so on. Media tripe. A man from a neighboring township, wrote me a hate letter this fall. It was supposed to be witty, but devolved into sheer malice. It was an attack on teachers. I'll quote only bits. Most of it is libel. "Willy, you remind me of the provincial handle on the thundermug -- always there but never in . . . You, along with that effete corps of over-rated and overpaid overpaid so-called teachers, are always articulating some complaint about municipal, provincial and federal legislature." I won't bore you with the rest of it, because it is boring. It suggests that none of us has the guts to tackle the establishment or run for office. Robert S. O'Neill, I was a town councillor when you were wetting your Pampers. I have been challenging the Establishment for years, in this column and face to face. I have been president of a large tourist association. President of a publishers' association. Treasurer of the local Red Cross; Member of the Library Board. Member of the church board. I am tired. Of you and the Mulrooneys. Get stuffed, both of you. Letters to the Editor Dear Johnny Well! Well! Well! Here we go again. The headline says "The Town Hall's 'A Disaster'." Disaster'." According to Ward Two Reg. Council Marie Hubbard we have no class: we have pigeon droppings on the Town Hall steps: we have a lack of conference rooms: we have no storage vaults for important town files which are piled on (lie second floor and arc water damaged. The councillor wants a renovation and extension program as we are on the verge of a major development and a centralized centralized headquarters would give greater efficiency: she is prepared prepared to "bite the bullet" to get things done. She was supported supported by most members of Council though Mayor Rickard thinks tilings should be a bit more grandiose, He suggests land rigid through to Silver Street would he necessary, necessary, I imagine he would slop proceedings on the cast side of Silver Street. Now once upon a lime my wife and daughter visited St. Peter's Square and I have a picture of Suu feeding the pigeons of which there were hundreds. Apparently (here is a way of handling pigeons so maybe someone should get a letter off to Rome. An alternative alternative would be to talk about them for the next 10 years as we have for the last 10. The roof of the Town Hall was leaking for many years and though wc have a planning department and a works department and any other department you can think of, no one thoùghl of calling in a roofer. Until two or three years ago when a grant made it possible to paint the building, building, buy some new furnishings and repair the roof. So the documents the councillor speaks of must have been damaged some years ago and while they may be valuable, they certainly aren't current, though lliuy may help the councillor as she strives to make a case. She realizes she is talking big money and invites us to join in as she "bites the bullet." The difference difference being the councillors bullet is sugar coated - $14,500. from the region, $10,000. from the town, one-third of the total lax free. The town lias been on the verge of major development development for the last 10 years. On January 20, 10114 il was an nounced the Town of Newcastle had the slowest growth rate of the eight Durham municipalities - one percent increase between 1974 and 1981. (see note No. one.) There doesn't seem any need to panic at this point in time (as the politicians say). Councillor Hobbs (who has more experience than anyone else on council with the possible possible exception of the mayor) was not mentioned in this report. He was not on council when he invited me to visit some of the facilities with him. Our first stop was the library when I saw two rooms in the basement which were seldom used. Then to the Bell Building where I met one of the staff and was shown lots of unused space. Then lo the Town Hall where the councillor almost broke down (not really) as he explained how the second floor was being entirely wasted. I am not sure if he knew of the valuable water soaked documents documents stored therein. But lie nssurred me if the second storey was properly utilized we would have enough space to last forever and forever and forever, 1 remember I slept well that night. I am not sure why this article surfaced at this lime but a year hence there will be an election and time may be running out. Or it may be that we have a new administrator and no one has thought to tell him that this is all old stuff: that the former administrator, who was just short of a boy wonder, spent considerable of his time and energy promoting promoting just such a project. That it got to the stage whore very grand plans were drawn up, a meeting of the towns people was called, the architect lost his temper and the whole project project was turned down completely, completely, lock, slock and barrel. Apparently since the plans were nol used and may have become water soaked this little misguided effort cost us only $25,000 (see note No. two). But it was a fine example of democracy in action, Morgan Note No. One - Councillor Cowman apparently does nol believe the great development is so imminent. Speaking on the hospital grant she is ((noted "Bowmanville is growing growing slowly and the expanded hospital could he out of dale before the town is big enough to support new facilities." Note No. Two - The Town was asked for $000,000 for the hospital and opted for $300,000 - $250,000 cash and $50,000 for costs for street closing, land transfers, and staff lime. Some of our high priced staff worked long and diligently on the ill fated hall plans. Using the hospital formula, to the $25,000 paid, the architect would have to bo added perhaps perhaps $50,000 for staff time - quite a price for a misguided effort. Morgan Nov. 1st, 1984 Dear Sir, The National Citizens' Coalition Coalition congratulates Prime Minister Mulroney for his decisive action in putting a number of Crown corporations on the auction block. The move was particularly gratifying gratifying because the sale of Crown corporations was an initiative actively promoted by the Coalition during the last federal election, ■; A national Gallup poll commissioned commissioned by the Coalition earlier this year showed that 57 percent of decided respon dents wanted to sell Crown corporations which perform functions that could be done by the free enterprise sector. Only 27 percent of respondents opposed selling them. Some other Crown corporations corporations Mr. Mulroney should sell : are Air Canada, CN, CBC and Pelro-Canada. Not only would the billions of dollars in revenue from these sales help to reduce Hie huge federal deficit, but wc would reduce future interest carrying charges as well. It will be refreshing to See innovative, imaginative free enterprisers turn the losses into profits and jobs in coming years. A fine first stroke, Mr. Mulroney, now let's sec the follow-through, Sincerely, Colin Brown, President, National Citizens' Coalition