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! P ! i ! V Section Two Editorial Buck Doesn't Go Very Far Sorry, Mr. Peterson, but we'll have to take issue with you on a certain certain point in your budget. We didn't mind the increased tax on booze or cigarettes. We're glad that you took the sales tax off children's children's car seats. We're not going to pretend that we like the idea of higher taxes. But, then, as the saying saying goes, death and taxes are about the only two inevitable things in this world of ours. What we'd really like to complain about is that momentous decision to eliminate the sales tax on fast foods costing less than $1. We recall that when your predecessors predecessors slapped a tax on restaurant restaurant meals, you and your cohorts complained long and loud about the fact that the poor wouldn't be able to buy a decent meal without paying taxes. We guess in a technical way, you have reversed that trend. But we still have to ask what kind of a meal one can buy for a buck. The way we see it, the menu might consist^ a slice of bread, with a little margarine on the side and perhaps a glass of writer. Then, for the main course, there's always a slice of bread (perhaps toasted this time) and more water. And for dessert, dessert, why, there's always bread, washed down with a little more delicious delicious tap water. In other words, try as you will, it's virtually impossible to find a meal for less than a dollar. Even a coffee with a doughnut will place you in a higher tax bracket in many shops. We suppose there are ways of getting getting around this rule. You might, for example, order french fries at one restaurant, coffee at another and soup at a third. Or, there's always the possibility of subsisting on milkshakes (small ones), ice cream cones, popsicles, and other less nutritious nutritious foods which would escape the tax man. Frankly, we think the decision to eliminate the sales tax on the nonexistent nonexistent one-dollar meal is nothing more than a chance to live up to the letter of a previous commitment without much serious though about the spirit of such action. We doubt that the move will fool anybody, especially those who are looking for the elusive one-dollar lunch. Voter P articipation Nceded About this time of year the political political hopefuls are as plentiful on the streets as autumn leaves or kids in Halloween costumes. One can't really blame them. Politics Politics is a numbers game. And the candidate who ignores a chance to meet the public at doorsteps or street corners does so at his own peril. But wouldn't it be nice if the rules of the game were somehow changed so that the political process did not consist of total strangers seeking votes from other total strangers? Wouldn't it be nice if the electorate electorate was viewed as something more than a herd which is milked for votes every three years and then turnjed out to pasture. It would be nice if political wards werè small enough that the local representative could actually know all the individuals in his area and possibly eveq^Jjlipw most of their names. '^. - Arid it would bê beÜfefr, still, if the candidate and his or her supporters scouted the neighbourhoods between between elections asking: "What do you think about issue X?" or "How do you feel the council, board, or comriiission should deal with the question of Y and Z?" Toi be fair, most elected representatives representatives keep in contact with their voters to some degree during their terms in office. They meet with citizens; citizens; who have complaints or sug gestions and thety have inroads into most community groups. In every community there is always always that core, of volunteers and local leaders who participate in the local government before, during and after an election. But the greatest participation of all citizens occurs only during a general election at the local, provincial provincial or federal level. We regret that today's government government at even the local level is so large that it denies the possibility of fuller participation by all. Unfortunately, Unfortunately, the voter turn-out rate is frequently in the neighbourhood of 40 or 50 per cent, which leaves a bloc of silent voters large enough alter the outcome of almost any contest. contest. No, as these few comments have indicated, the electoral system is not perfect. But it's the best we have. And a glance at other nations will quickly tell you that it's better than almost any other place you can imagine. And so, let's all make our best effort effort to meet the candidates, read their literature, listen to their position position on the various issues and then vote for the persons of our choice on November 12. Whatever happens, happens, let's make certain that apathy does not emerge as the biggest winner winner in the election of 1985. And let's also do our part to remain remain active in the political scene between elections. Contribution to Hospital A $25,000 contribution from Gen- eraLMotors of Canada Ltd., will provide provide Memorial Hospital with a speriially-equipped day surgery unit; The project will become part of the ! renovation and construction program scheduled to begin at the hospital late this year and early in 1986. Funds for the unit were formally presented to Memorial Hospital representatives last Friday, October October 25, by GM representatives Dr. Arnold Jones, medical director for the company and Hal McKnight Regional Regional Truck Manager of GM of Canada.; Canada.; Joseph Kraemer, chairman of the hospital fund-raising committee, and' Hosptial Foundation Chairman Chairman Tom Cowan, were on hand along with executive director Qtye Caoabtim &tateatnan _ Durham County's Druat Family Journal 623*3303 EelabHahed 110 year» ago In 1664. Alaolnoarporatlftg The BowmemWe News The Newceetle Independent The Orone Newt l Second cleee mell reptelratlon number 1641 L Produced every Wedneedey by THE JAMES PUBLISHma COMPANY LIMITED 02*66 King SI. W„ Bowmenvllle, Ontario L1C 3K9 .1*» .JOHN M. JAMES Éditor -- Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS ■ Business Mgr. RICHARD A.JAMES Assistant Publisher BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. PETER PARROTT Associate Editor. DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. i All layout» and compoeltlon ol advertleemenle produced by the employee» ol The Canedlen Steteemen, The Newcaeile Independent end The Jemee PubKehlnf Company Limited ere protected by eopyitgtrl end muet not be Ireproduced without written permleelen ol the pubWehere. 615.00 a year -- 6 month» 66.00 ■trlctly In advance foreign-660.00 a year 1 Although evoiy iimcniillcin will bo Liken lo ovoid error. The Canadian Statesman nccepls advertising In Ils columns ■ on Ihe'undeislniuling Hint II will nol be liable loi any error In Iho advertisement published hereunder unless a prool ol V.iich advertisement is reouesled in wilting by the advertiser and returned lo The Canadian Statesman business 'trllice Italy signed by the advoillsei and with such ertor or corrections plainly noted In writing thereon, and In that case ÛI any error so noted Is nol corrected by The Canadian Statesman Its liability shall nol esceed such a portion ol Iho entire 'cost ni sur It advefhslriienl as the space occupied by Iho noled error bears to the whole space'occupied by such r The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville. October 30.1985 wmm. ■■'AW-;. -i yeas -lit. ■ . H; hi Bfm t '* j Â.1 Richard Elston to accept the donation. donation. In announcing thé General Motors Contribution, Memorial Hospital noted that safer anaesthetics anaesthetics and more effective medications allow many procedures to be completed completed on a one-day only basis. Previously, Previously, such operations could have required a three or four-day re- couperation in hospital.. Memorial Hospital currently performs performs five or six of these procedures procedures daily and reports a caseload of 1,434 last year. "The Ministry of Health highly supports this kind of activity because because of the degree of efficiency that the process allows in the system," system," said Memorial Hospital in announcing announcing GM's donation. The funds will be used to equip and furnish the new facility. ll P|; -I f mil i «Pi Commencement Exercises Held at Bowmanville High School SUGAR and SPICE City Life is Tough Hy Hill Smiley This is a time of year when my heart goes out to city dwellers. It's a time when rural or small town living is immensely superior to that in the concrete canyons, the abominable apartments, the sad suburbs of metropolia. j .Iir the city, dàÿ ends drearily in the fall. There's the long, wearying ; battle hoirie through traffic, or the draughty, crushed, degrading scramble on public transportation.' The city man arrives home fit for nothing but slumping for the evening before the television set. And what greets him? The old lady, wound up like a steel spring because she hasn't seen a soul she knows all day, there's nothing to look at but that stupid house next door, exactly like their own, and the .kids have been giving her hell. He's stuck with it. For the whole evening. That's why, so many city chaps have workshops in the basement. It's much simplier to go down cellar and whack off a couple of fingers in the power saw than listen to Mabel. Life is quite different for the small town male. He is home from work in minutes. He surveys the ranch, says, "Must get those storm Windows on one of these days," and goes in, to the good fall smells of cold drinks and hot food. itiis wife saw him at breakfast, regain at lunch, has had a good natter ,a with the dame next door, and has 'bfeen out for two hours, raking leaves with thé kids. She doesn't need him. Instead of drifting off to the basement, the small town male announces that this is his bowling night, or he has to go to a meeting of the Conservation and Slaughter Club, and where's a clean shirt. And that's all there is to it. While her city counterpart squats in front of TV, gnawing her nails and wondering why she didn't marry good old George, who has a big dairy farm now, the small town gal collects the kids and goes out to burn leaves. There is nothing more romantic than the back streets of a small town in the dark of a fall evening. Piles of leaves spurt orange flame. White smoke eddies. Neighbors call out, lean on rakes. Women, kerchiefed like gypsies, heap the dry leaves high on the fire. Kids avoid the subject of bedtime, dash about the fire like nimble gnomes. Or perhaps the whole family goes to a fowl supper. What, in city living, can compare with this finest of rural ' functions? A crisp fall evening, a drive to the church hall through a Hallowe'en landscape, an appetite like an alligator, and that first wild whiff of turkey and dressing that makes your knees buckle and the juices flow free in your cheeks. But it's on weekends that my pity for the city-dweller runneth over. Not for him the shooting-match on a clear fall Saturday, with its good- humored competition, its easy friendliness. Not for him the quiet stroll down a sunny wood road, shotgun over arm, patridge and woodcock rising like clouds of mosquitoes. It's not that he doesn't live right, or doesn't deserve these pleasures. It's just that it's physically impossible to get to them easily. If he wants to crouch in a duck-blind, at dawn, he has to drive half the night to get there. Maybe on a Sunday or holiday, in the fall, the city family decides to head out and see some of that beautiful autumn foliage. They see it, after driving two hours. And with 50,000 other cars, they crawl home in late afternoon, bumper to bumper, the old man cursing, the kids getting hungrier, the mother growing owlier. Small town people can drive for 15 minutes and hit scenery, at least "around here, that leaves them breathless. Or they'll wheel out a few miles to see their relatives on the farm, eat a magnificent dinner, and sit around watching TV in a state of delicious torpor. Yup. It's tough to live in the city, in the fall. ;*wÿT'.4 ; W'-V v- October 21,1985 Mr. Dave Gray, Deputy Director of Public Works, Town of Newcastle Public Works Department, Hampton Municipal Hall, Hampton, Ontario. Dear Mr. Gray: On behalf of the 1st Hampton Beaver Colony, I extend sincere thanks to you and. Mr. Glenn Smith for generously allowing us to use the Works Yard parking lot for our Great Pumpkin Sale on Saturday, October 19,1985. We really appreciate the time spent by Mr. Smith and yourself to arrange this. Although, Mother Nature did not co-operate with us entirely, we managed to earn a good profit to further Scouting in Hampton. Many thanks again! Yours in Scouting, Barbara Pokorski, Rainbow. October 21,1985 Dear Mr. James: For almost 25 years, the Base Line ■ Community used the S.S. No. 3 schoolhouse as their community centre. Six and one half years ago the community was informed that the transmission lines from Darlington Generating Station would be passing through the centre. Shortly thereafter,, the community met with Town Officials to request that we be re-located. Within the year, Ontario Hydro, the Toxyn of Newcastle and the community agreed upon a purchase price for the old centre - one which would allow us to build a new centre. As you are probably aware, due to an act of government, passed in 1974, all communtiy centres are town-owned, but volunteer maintained, Our new Base Line Community Centre has almost reached its final completion stage - only after many delays. We have a building of which we are very proud. One clarification we felt was needed for you and your readers is that this building was funded entirely through Ontario Hydro by then- expropriation of our old centre and through an available grant. No funding was obtained from the town - and thus none from your tax dollars. We, the Base Line community, would like to especially thank Mayor Rickard, Councillor Taylor and David Johnston from the town for their time, support and dedication to this project. Many thanks. Our official opening will be held on November 2, 1985 beginning at 2 p.m. at S.S. No. 3 and then at 3:30 p.m. at our new centre. Everyone is most welcome. Sincerely yours, Base Line C.C, Hall Board October 17,1985 Dear Sir: We wish to thank you for your participation in our luncheon of October 7, 1985. Your personal involvement made the launching of "Agri- Power" a successful experience. experience. We appreciate your concern for the interests of your neighbour and trust that you will promote this economic concept, "Buy The Food Your Neighbour Grows," as a realistic strategy for development. development. To be effective, farmers must communicate to the people with a unified voice. We must generate enthusiastic enthusiastic support from our neighbours neighbours upward. It is the efforts of people like you which will initiate progress. We count on your support to assist in a worthy cause, beneficial beneficial to all Canadians. Sec. Public Relations JimMillson Durham Region Federation of Agriculture Dear Johnny: I did my usual berry picking this year and must have been one of the oldest on the patch. I started out with Dr. Sissons on Liberty St. and the pay was 3 cents per box. We spent some time at the cottage where our neighbour feeds the coons every night. To cut down the overhead, she catches little bass and sunfish. To catch these she sits in a chair at the end of her dock (which is about 30 feet long) and puts the catch in a pail. One'night I saw her catch a larger than usual one which . went in the pail. I wasn't the only one watching as a minute later a coon walked out helped (itself to the big one and brought it back in front of our place where supper was consumed. Our friend knew the fish was gone but thought it had jumped back into the lake - she was almost indignant when I told her what had happened. We went, to Skeleton Lake for a few days and while there heard a service station operator near Gravenhurst was finding it very difficult to get help. The reason was he was only paying $50.00 a day. My last job which was for three months and would be in '74 paid $25.00 per plus $1.00 vacation pay. There have been some items in the Statesman which I thought might have raised more reactions. I see that Ken Hooper after being vindicated on the mileage issue brought to council's notice that certain refunds processed from O.M.E.R.S. were not in order. After much time and checking, Chief Administrative Officer Johnston has admitted there were eight refunds made in error but "certain administration changes are being made to safeguard against any repetition of similar errors." If Mr. Hooper received a record of all council's financial dealings one might wonder how many errors he might uncover. Last May 24th Regional Council hired a jet to take a whole flock of people to the . U.S. to study some recycling, sites. 1 read where the trip was made, the folks saw what they went to see, they returned home educated and enthusiastic and as far as I have been able to find out they_ haven't been heard of since." Would someone please let us know what is going on? I note our new "energy man" has been duly installed in his office and a year or so from now he will start saving us scads of money. He apparently is doing something the same as Hydro who invite people to take them up on the go electric challenge and "let their energy specialists do a no obligation analysis to show how much you can save in your home or business." Hydro claims to do this for free - "our man" will have a price of $25,000.00 directly or indirectly. If my memory serves me right, our school board is spending $15,000.00 per school for an installation which will reduce the number of books which "go missing" from the school libraries. They expect to recover the 15 thousand in about 3 years so apparently there is a lot of one way traffic. We had a library when 1 went to B.H.S. As I recall, it was a part of the office where in the entire staff was also housed. I am unsure but think there was a secretary but the library was handled by one of the teachers. And if books disappeared then at the same rate as they do today in about two days the library would have been down to the bare shelves. I noticed one of the beaches had "no swimming" this summer. Would local council or regional council take credit or were our consultants off base-again? Morgan Pickering - Ajax Flood Control Project Opened A new flood control project for the Duffin Creek was officially opened on Tuesday, October 15, 1985, the 31st anniversary of Hurrican Hazel. The project was built by The Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Authority, after the area affected was identified as a high priority flood damage centre. Duffin Creek usually floods in the spring, due to high water and ice jamming. The flood damage centre contains 27 residences and five commcr- cioal properties. A 350 metre-long, three- metre-high earth dyke was constructed on the main Duffin Creek, along with an 1,150 metre-long, two-metre- high earth dyke on the west branch of the creek. Culverts with one-way flow gates were also installed to ensure proper drainage t of the areas protected by the dykes. Total cost of the project was $350,000, and was shared by the Ontario Government, through the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Regional Municipality of Durham, through the municipalities municipalities of Ajax and Pickering. Pickering.