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

4 The Canadian Statesman. Rmvmanvillc. September 30, 1987 Section Two ®ijc Canadian Statesman JOHN M. JAMES Editor--Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. * PETER PARROTT Associate Editor DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition of advertisements produced by the employees of The Canadian Statesman, The Newcastle Independent and The Jamas Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without permission of the publishers. $17.00ayear--6 months».00 foreign--$55.00 a year strictly in advance Although every precaution will be taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising in its columns on the understanding lhal it will not be liable lor any error in the advertisement published hereunder unless a proof ol such advertisement is requested in writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business office duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted in writing thereon, and in that case it any error so noted is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman its liability shall not exceed such a portion of the entire cost ol such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement. Overheated Markets When it comes to construction of public buildings, elected officials find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Not that this is too surprising. Indeed, Indeed, that territory between the rock and the hard place is almost the natural natural habitat of elected representatives representatives for whom most major decisions are tough to call. Take the case of constructing public public buildings. When times are tough and the public public purse is a little thin, it would be possible to get some relatively good prices on buildings such as hospitals, schools, libraries, sports facilities, and all the rest. But the general public would be upset at the prospects of spending money on public projects during hard times. These are the occasions when elected representatives are told to tighten the belt, bite the bullet and set an example of fiscal responsibility. responsibility. So the only answer is to build public public facilities in the economic sunshine sunshine when there is a little extra cash in the kitty. Right? Well, not necessarily. The problem with construction in the good times is the fact that prices rise through the stratosphere. It's a classic case of supply and demand. The demand for construction increases increases and the supply of trades people, materials, and contractors can't keep pace. The result is a rise in prices. And so, today's public institutions whether they be boards of education or municipalities, hospital boards, and library boards, are facing high prices if they want to build. Once again, they find themselves between a rock and a hard place. It would be irresponsible to proceed proceed with major projects in a time of economic recession. And yet, when an economy and a community is expanding expanding rapidly, public agencies can be accused of unwisely spending public public funds if prices are, inflated. There's also the very real possibility that public agencies are contributing to inflation by giving the green light to projects being built in the boom times. To add to the complexity of the de cision-making process, there's also the fact that projects such as new schools or community facilities are needed in rapidly expanding communities. communities. It's just not possible to put a project on the back burner because costs have run too high. The need for the project will not go away until the price comes down. To be specific, let's look at a couple of recent projects which are being considered by public agencies. The Town of Newcastle Arena project project is estimated to cost about $600,000 more than expected. And the Northumberland and Newcastle Newcastle Board of Education is proceeding proceeding with the preparation of architectural architectural plans for two schools in its eastern eastern area even though costs are estimated estimated to be almost two million dollars dollars higher than originally expected. Neither the Board of Education nor the Town of Newcastle have given these projects the final OK. Town Council is still studying the recent arena tenders and the school board is hopeful that when it eventually calls tenders, prices may be a little less than expected. Nevertheless, all signs point to a construction market which is overheated. overheated. It would appear that public agencies agencies having building programs on the drawing boards these days are faced with two options. They can do nothing, nothing, in which case the community suffers through lack of facilities. Or they can forge ahead, in which case they must wrestle with higher costs. All things considered, this is not an enviable dilemma. But if the project on the drawing board is in response to a dire need, then there seems to be little choice but to go ahead. For we have neglected neglected to mention one other factor in the equation concerning the impact of inflation. We should point out that regardless of the inflation rate of today, past experience experience has shown that inflated prices seldom go down. If anything, they level off. But they rarely tumble to pre-inflationary levels. And that tends to indicate that whatever the prices are today, they will probably not get any lower unless the size of the project is reduced. The Value of Tourism Over the next few years, we're going to hear a lot about this subject. For it seems that the more progressive municipalities are exploring their tourism potential as carefully as they might pursue opportunities in industry, industry, or trade. Tourism, believe it or not, is the third largest industry in Canada. It ranks just after the forestry and automotive automotive sectors in importance. At last report, it accounted for somewhere in the neighbourhood of 600,000 Ontario jobs. It brought in $20 billion -- $8 billion of that in Ontario alone. And tourism does have certain built-in advantages. For one thing, it's a relatively clean and safe industry. It produces no smokestacks spewing pollutants nor does it place any workers in unsafe environments. It also seems to us that the hospitality hospitality industry is a rather flexible one. It doesn't necessarily require extensive extensive years of training, (although undoubtedly undoubtedly formal schooling in tourism does improve on the level of professionalism within the business). And tourism allows people to work more flexible hours and at various age levels. Tourism also takes advantage of two new trends in North America of the late 20lh century. First of all, there arc increasing levels of leisure time available. Secondly, there is a growing number of retired persons who undoubtedly find in tourism a way of fulfilling their interests. It seems to us that there arc certain drawbacks to the tourism industry which it would only be fair to mention. mention. For one thing, it would seem logical to assume that tourism will follow the whims of economic downturns and upturns. In other words, tourism dollars dollars are dollarsspenton extras which are not necessities. And in times of economic retrenchment, the money budgeted for these "frills" is the first to be hidden away in bank accounts for a rainy day. It should also be noted that although although tourism does produce jobs, a certain number of those are in the lower-paying "service" occupations. The creation of any new job is good for the economy. But the seasonal, temporary, or part-time jobs arising from tourism cannot equal a longterm longterm highly-skilled occupation. Finally, it seems to us that tourism is also subject to a high degree of competition. This is both a benefit and a drawback. The competitive factor is a benefit because tourism depends largely on marketing skills. Given the right mixture mixture of attractions and promotion, just about any community can,become can,become a tourist mecca. As more municipalities municipalities start to compete for the tourism dollar, the competition will become fierce and there may be some casualties along the way. One also cannot help but wonder what will happen over the long-range development of tourism. There will always be travellers. But the length of time during which travel will be considered an enjoyable way of spending time and money is not easy to predict. Only certain areas of the world can be centres for mining or forestry or fishing or even (to some degree) manufacturing. manufacturing. But virtually any place can be a tourist centre. It helps if you have some natural attraction like a volcano or a reversing waterfall. But, even without these features, tourism is still possible if you possess a good marketing scheme, excellent accommodation, accommodation, reasonable prices, and other desirable attributes that cause visitors to enjoy their stay and return in future years. The fact that the tourism business is a competitive one should not stop areas from joining the competition. If they fail to do so, you can vest as- Thousands of Pumpkins Ready for Hallowe'en Police Officer Receives Award for Service Constable Peter Wraight was one of several members of the Durham Regional Police force honored, at an awards ceremony held on Friday, Spetember 11. Constable Wraight is pictured above with the 20 year Canadian Police Exemplary Service Medal and the certificate signed by the Governor General of Canada, Madam Jean Sauve. The awards ceremony honored officers for their dedication for 20 or 30 years of service. Civilian citations and police commendations commendations were also presented at the awards ceremony. Experts are a Rarity One of the reasons why it's hard to criticize the nuclear industry is because because there's a lack of people, qualified qualified to speak on the subject. There are plenty of lay people who would venture an opinion for or against nuclear power. But their views can always be downplayed by the industry on the grounds that their opinions are based on emotion or conjecture or something other than fact. Naturally, there are certain individuals individuals with enough credentials to adequately understand and offer meaningful criticism. But many of these scientists are already working in the nuclear energy field. Therefore, Therefore, they can hardly be described as neutral observers by any stretch of the imagination. Given this environment, the speaker who will be discussing nuclear nuclear energy in a meeting at the Bow- manville High School next Wednesday, Wednesday, October 7, seems to be a rarity. Dr. Rosalie Bertell is, on the one hand, an expert on the effects of radi ation on public health. Yet she is a person outside the nuclear industry and therefore able to form a more independent independent attitude. We're not sure exactly what Dr. Bertell will have to say about the nuclear nuclear power industry which will soon be at the operational stage in this municipality. The meeting where she is speaking will be sponsored by three groups who have taken stands critical of the nuclear industry in the past. But whether one might consider Dr. Bertell to be for or against nuclear energy, the important thing is that she represents an independent voice on a topic in which the experts are almost always part of the industry. Persons like Dr. Bertell can at least ensure that all the facts are presented. presented. How the public interprets those facts is up to the public itself. Because whether it's by passive indifference indifference or active participation, the ultimate decisions on nuclear energy are in the hands of the public. sured that they will miss out altogether altogether on the lucrative tourism potential. potential. And this brings us to the question of what should the Durham Region do to improve its position in the tourism market. Durham's tourism assets include the fact that the area is easily accessible, accessible, close to the major attractions of Toronto, and yet blessed with wide open spaces and rural charm that is surely on a par with quaint New England England landscapes. Its Lake Ontario shoreline also has much potential which has yet to be developed. By now, most agencies in the community community with an interest in tourism will have received an invitation to an important October 8 meeting when the subject of tourism will be addressed addressed by the Travel Association of the Durham Region. (TADR). This will be an important session for the development development of new ideas and the reinforcement reinforcement of existing information on this important subject. Like it or not, tourism will be a part of the economy of the future. As with any business, tourism has its positive and negative sides. But if we make the most of its positive attributes, attributes, we too, can reap economic benefits benefits in the hospitality trade, And there is just no question that the business is a major revenue-producer. revenue-producer. So it's time for the Durham Region Region to step (cautiously) onto the bandwagon. Letter to the Editor Urges Participation in Meeting Dear Editor: Our children are once again back to the school system system where they are learning about the world around them. On October 7th, a Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., we adults will also have an op- purtunity to further educate ourselves about our relationship relationship with our local environment. environment. Dr. Rosalie Bertell, an internationally famous enviromental health scientist, scientist, will be talking on the effects effects of radiation on the human human body and Mr. Gene Lengyel will speak on Energy Energy Alternatives. Their presentations presentations will be held at the Bowmanville High School Auditorium and there will be no admission charge. Dr. Bertell presently is the Director of Research for the International Institute of Concern for Public Health and is a member of the Order Order of Grey Nuns. She holds a Doctorate in mathmemat- ics and has worked as a cancer cancer research scientist, a consultant consultant and technical wit ness to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ana the U.S. Enviromental Protection Agency. She has done extensive studies on genetic damage from radiation radiation exposure being involved involved in numerous assessments assessments and research projects. projects. Many academic pa- ers have been published by er and she is the author of the book, "No Immediate Danager". Dr. Bertell has a large store of knowledge from her years of study aided aided by her travels to Europe, Asia, Pacific Islands and Australia. We should take advantage advantage of this renowned humanitarian's humanitarian's visit to our area. It is an honour that a person of such international recognition will be speaking tous. I hope this community -- Durham Region, will make every effort to attend. We need to be more educated in the nuclear facilities. We are downwind from the Pickeri- ing Nuclear Generating Station Station and Darlington Nuclear Generating Station is on our front yard, both employing many of our residents. The Tritium Extraction Facility at Darlington will cause the movement of radioactive substances on our highways, highways, while Port Granby stores tons of low-level radioactive radioactive wastes. Dr. Bertell's information may particularly benefit the employees who are working working at nuclear plants or who are in contact with radio active active products. Nuclear workers are one of the high risk groups and should be informed about the consequences. consequences. The evening of Oct. 7th is to be a learning rocess and should lead to a etter awareness of the potential potential radiation-health haz- zards this region holds. Please mark the date on your calendars ans come out to listen to these informative informative speakers. In later years, lets' not complain, 'but nobody told us!' By Barbara Humphrey By Carolyn Hepburn Darlington Tour is a Must My fellow reporter, Gretchcn, and I spent the better part of last Wednesday afternoon on a walking tour of the Darlington Darlington Nuclear Station. As we donned hard hats and safety shoes and headed out to the site, I felt a sense of excitement. excitement. Now, I'm not going to use this week's column to expound on the pros and cons of nuclear energy, but I would like to explain a little of how the afternoon went. . Before entering the plant, Donna Proul, our guide, gave us a brief description description of the site and its different components. components. As we tried to absorb absorb the concept of producing producing electricity from nuclear reactions contained contained in those structures structures south of Highway 401, it became apparent that the best way to comprehend comprehend the situation was to take a closer look. As we toured the turbine turbine plant where the actual actual electricity will be produced, I got a good idea of just how large the whole operation really is. There arc only two turbines under construction construction at the moment, with two more to come in a building that will be longer than four football fields when it is completed. completed. The two massive tanks that will store the fuel bundles will hold 17 years worth of spent fuel -- now that is some large swimming pool. And the huge control room that will monitor the entire operation would put the U.S.S. Enterprise Enterprise to shame with its Hashing lights and computerized control panels. As Donna patiently answered our questions about the whole controversial controversial place, we managed managed to pick up a few useful useful bits of information. When the four-unit station station is finished in 1992, it will provide 3,524,000 kilowatts of power. That is enough to serve a city the size of Toronto. There arc presently approximately 6000 construction construction employees working at the site in three shifts. When the operation is finished it will employ approximately 900 people. Darlington has enjoyed enjoyed its share of the limelight for so long that it is almost impossible to find anyone who hasn't heard of it or has a view on the whole nuclear energy issue. I too had heard of Darlington Darlington before I came to Bowmanville, but Wednesday was the closest I had ever come to the place. While I may not be totally totally sold on the idea of nuclear energy I do feel a whole lot safer about the facility that is under construction at Darlington. Darlington. For anyone with questions questions about the operations operations that will take place down there once the facility is fully operational, operational, a trip to the information information centre might set your mind at ease. Still, 1 know that there are many people who have toured the place and arc still opposed to nuclear energy. That is the way we arc made: those that have opinions without being informed; those that have opinions once they arc informed; and those that arc informed but can't decide on an opinion. opinion. 1 must admit that I'm leaning towards the latter latter category at this point. Maybe another visit to Darlington wou|d make up my mind one way or the other. I