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

: 4 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanvillc, May 31. l!)8i) Canadian Statesman Durham Region's Great Family Journal Established 135 years ago in 1854 © Also Incorporating .1 « The Bowmanville News VA The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second Class mail registration number 1561 Produced weekly by James Publishing Company Limited 62 King Street West, Bowmanville, Ontario L1C3K9 416-623-3303 Fax 416-623-6161 cn John M. James Editor - Publisher Richard A. James Associate Publisher Peter Parrott Associate Editor Geo. P. Morris Brian Purdy . Donald Bishop Business Mgr. Advertising Mgr. Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition of advertisements produced by the employees of James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. Subscription Rates Six Months---$11.00 One Year--$20.00 Three Years -- $57.00 Five years -- $90.00 Foreign -- $60.00. per year Although every precaution will be taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising In Its columns on the understanding that it will not be liable lor any error In the advertisement published hereunder unless a proof of such advertisement Is requested In writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business ottice duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted in writing thereon, and In that case H any error so noted is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman its liability shall not exceed such a portion ol the entire cost of such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement. Looking Back at Staff and Students from 1OO- Year-Old Central Public School Everybody's Responsibility It's time to do some serious thinking thinking about our natural environment. And, better yet, it's time to take some serious action. June 4th to 10th has been declared Canadian Environment Week. And there are numerous efforts under way to help educate the public about environmental environmental risks. One of the points that should be made is the fact that the environmental environmental mess in which we find ourselves is shared by everyone. Sometimes, in the discussion of environmental environmental issues, there is a feeling that destruction of our natural surroundings surroundings is the fault of phantoms and bogeymen other than ourselves. These scapegoats take many forms. There is, for example, the nuclear industry. industry. Or there is the chemical industry industry or the oil and gas industry or, perhaps, perhaps, the agricultural industry. And events such as the massive Alaska oil spill tend to confirm our suspicions that the threat to the environment environment comes from sources unrelated to ourselves and vaguely aligned with industry and commerce. This, of course, is nonsense. The oil tanker which ran aground off Alaska, was only a part of a very long chain of events related to the insatiable insatiable need by the American consumer consumer for petroleum products. Similarly, there is the case of the nuclear power plants or their coal- burning cousins. These are, likewise, the direct result of a consumer lifestyle lifestyle which guzzles energy in a man- 'ner that is greedy, reckless and heedless heedless of the natural environment in which we must all exist. It seems to us that if the protection of the environment is to mean anything anything at all, we must literally start in our own back yards. You may note that this is a direct reversal of the so-called NIMBY (not in my backyard) principle which is all- too-often evoked whenever environmental environmental issues surface. For example: if an industry wanted to construct a chemical manufacturing plant in a particular community you can bet that a number of opponents to the plant would appear. And yet, it's both hypocritical and illogical to complain complain of threats posed by chemical pollution pollution while leading a lifestyle which includes the over-use of household chemicals. There are some other disturbing ; questions that must be asked as one ^considers the proper stewardship of -the planet on which we live. "• For example: Is it rational to protest large-scale electrical developments developments while utilizing a wide array of electrical applicances such as the electric electric toothbrush or the electric dishwasher? dishwasher? Is it reasonable to protest chemical pollution in our lakes and streams or atmosphere when we use these very same chemicals around our households? households? i Not likely. Various agencies can offer advice on ways in which protection of our surroundings surroundings can begin in our own backyards. backyards. A number of these have been suggested in correspondence, pamphlets, pamphlets, and other material which has been distributed in connectio n with Environment Week. 1 For example: Why not attempt to cut back on the purchasing of overpackaged overpackaged consumer goods? Wherever possible, buy in bulk rather than packages. packages. We also note that "those who wish to do something to clean up their environment environment need to look no further than the space beneath the kitchen sink. Products such as mildew killer, floor cleaners, disinfectants, drain cleaners, and many others are hazardous hazardous to nature. Moreover, they are not always completely necessary. Alternatives to dangerous household household cleaners are available -- some of these are as straightforward as baking soda or white vinegar. Other actions which can be taken in the home to protect the quality. of our environment include improving insulation, insulation, fixing leaking taps, and (of course) placing newspapers, tin cans, and glass in the recycling box. Finally, the traditional compost heap is one more way of turning vegetable vegetable scraps, lawn clippings and leaves into a soil conditioner rather than an additional burden to the landfill site. The actions of one individual towards towards "recycling, reducing, and reuse" reuse" will not immediately make a difference. difference. But the cumulative effect of millions of households taking an interest interest in their environment will definitely lead to success. We live in an era where people are controlled by big organizations such as f overnment, educational institutions, ealth care systems or large commercial commercial corporations. Sometimes, given the size of our institutions, we reach the conclusion that there is little that the individual can do to change the way things are. But such thinking is mistaken. The battle for clean air and water is one which must be fought at the individual individual level and from the grassroots upwards. Our future and our very lives may depend upon the outcome. The Return of the Tuna l'\ Absent for nearly four years, Star- "Kist brand tuna is being re-introduced -to grocery store shelves on Canada's Least coast and soon may find its way to stores in the rest of the country. The tuna's reappearance signals a Lwelcome end, at last, to the so-called tainted tuna scandal which removed current House of Commons Speaker, ;John Fraser, from his post as Minister ■of Fisheries in late 1985. Following his "demise from the cabinet, Mr. Fraser was the first speaker ever elected to his current position under new House 'rules: a gesture by parliamentarians signalling their continued respect for -him. ' The speaker has made a successful comeback from the throes of the tuna scandal; with luck, hundreds of New Brunswick fishermen and workers at the Star-Kist plant will make a simi- _lar recovery. Mr. Fraser's specific faux pas was approving a quantity of tuna for sale after it had been labelled "unfit for hu- . man consumption" by his ministry's .health inspectors. Although chemical tests failed to disqualify the tuna, tests of its aesthetic qualities, including including those of smell and touch, prompted inspectors to rate it as they aid. Faced with scientific evidence suggesting suggesting the tuna was acceptable and well aware of the damage which a ban would inflict on the industry, Mr. Fraser ignored the aesthetic tests and approved the tuna for sale. Once the public heard that the tuna had been rated "unfit for human consumption," no amount of explanation could quell the cries for the tuna to be removed and for the minister to resign. It was and he did. i&teHtsewtiKit im&4 tflHSlS These are the members of Central Public School staff in 1951-52. The back row, from left, includes: Merle Slute, Marjorie Cole, Agnes Carruthers, Myrtle Hall, Lois McDonald, Leta Bragg, Vivian Bunner, and Dick Merkley. The front row, from left, consists of: Rena Mutton, Marg McGregor, Andy Thompson, Marj Couch and Elaine Reid. Almost two decades ago, these grade eight students were completing their final year at Central Public Scnool. The grade eight class of 1969-70 includes: (back row from left) John Whitnall, Don Sturrock, Brian Curtis, Derek Lobb, John Colwell,. Frank Shetler, Gary Gibson, Tom Hayes, Brad Rundle. 3rd Row: Merlin Brown, Alan Rigby, Mike Saunders, Kathy Pollitt, Susan Davey, Sharon Hammond, Garth Jensen, Wavne Martin, Bill Dilling. Second Row: Mrs. Falls, Lisa Nicks, Diane Dobbs, Linda Bryson, June Muir, Sharon Noble, Lynn Linton, Joye Ross, Joanne Mantle. First row: Rosemarie Westover, Wendy Mountjoy, Marilyn Scott, Colleen Cooke, Judy Thickson, Jane Bennett, Robin Martyn, Jennifer Rehder, Margot McTavish. In a broader sense, Mr. Fraser's mistake was in assuming that, as the elected head of a government ministry, -he had the final say regarding the tuna. Government of today operates largely without elected men and women, women, in the mysterious hallways of our enormous bureaucracy. According to the text books, the cabinet minister presides over his ministry. In reality, he often has no choice but to follow the lead of a bureaucrat. It is comforting to know that experts experts are at work behind the raucous Question Period scene where the business business of running the country is upstaged upstaged by political performances designed designed only to keep the performer in the spotlight for as long as possible. However, it is dangerous for unnamed bureaucrats to exercise power of such magnitude that a minister can be unseated unseated because he chooses to overrule his advisors. ■ There will always be second guessing guessing about the great Canadian tuna caper. caper. Testing procedures may not have been as helpful as. they could nave been. Communication between the minister and health officials may have been poor. It simply may be that Mr, Fraser used poor judgement and made the biggest mistake of his political career. career. Regardless of where the blame for the episode eventually rests, the damage it inflicted on hundreds of Now Brunswick families is only now being reversed. With a new label which prominently displays Star- Kist's new quality guarantee, the com- Tell me what's wrong with this scenario: A man takes a baseball bat to his wife's head and literally literally smashes in her skull. For his crime, a judge sentences said husband to 90 days in jail, to be served on weekends. His reason for the sentence was that the family would suffer if the hardworking hardworking family provider, had to spend a lengthy time in jail. The beaten wife, after having operations on her brain and spending months in the hospital, reconciled with her husband husband and tried to get the charges against him dropped. A man in Ottawa received received this sentence last week for his attack on his wife two years ago. I got a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach when I first read about the incident. I wasn't sickened only because the man received a mere slap on the wrist, nor was I upset that he attacked in the first place. What bothered me the ' most about this story was that the woman went back to her husband. I have never understood understood and probably never will understand the reasons reasons why abused women keep returning to the abuser. Whether it's financial security that brings her back, emotional dependency dependency or fear of being alone, I'm not knowledgeable knowledgeable enough to say. It bothers me though, especially when I know married women aren't the only people hurt by this type of aggression. I remember a couple who were dating when I was in high school. I didn't know them since they were a few grades ahead of me but I saw them every day as I passed their locker to get to my own. I remember walking to my locker one day when the couple were embroiled embroiled in a fight. I didn't know then, as I don't know now, what the argument argument was about or who initiated it. Even if I knew, I don't think I would remember what they fought about, but to this day I will always always remember seeing him strike her just before I passed them. A few days later, I saw them together again. This time, they were holding hands and acting as if nothing had ever pened between them As I said, I didn't know then and I don't know now what type of relationship relationship the couple had or what the problem was that stirred the fight just as I don't know about the situation between the couple in Ottawa or in any other spousal abuse case. But, I do know that no person, man, woman or child ever deserves to be hit. There are other means of punishing a child who did something wrong just as there are other outlets for a partner to release hap- his/her anger rather than on each other. Now, to answer my question about what was wrong with the picture painted at the beginning of this column. The man in Ottawa was wrong to attack his wife. He deserved to be punished with a more severe severe sentence than three months in jail. Yet I can't help but feel the judge couldn't do much else. The wife had returned to her husband and had tried to get the charges against him dropped. If she, the victim, victim, didn't want him punished punished how could the judicial judicial system punish him to the extent that he should have been. As for the wife, well, I just hope for her sake there isn't a next time. Group Opposes Uranium Mines ReaderSupports English Rights Dear Editor: Our tolerance and understanding understanding of the Franco aggression aggression in Ontario and the rest of Canada is over! In other countries our leaders are representing Canada as a French country. country. We are losing our identity identity outside of Canada as an English speaking country. We know the truth is 95% of us speak English. Inside Canada, the apathetic, party-oriented party-oriented politicians (not only French), are promoting French as a means of unity. IT IS A LIE! Those in power are allowing allowing Canada to become a French State under the Fleur de Lis, not the Maple Leaf. The promotion of French Immersion for our children is their Achilles Heel. Young parents, TAKE YOUR CHILDREN OUT OF FRENCH IMMERSION CLASSES! If they get our children, in ten years they will have our country. Our children will lose in the long run because they are not FRENCH. Do not succumb to the propaganda and fear propagated by those presently presently in authority. This is one of the means used to change the identity of Canada Canada from an English speaking to a French speaking nation. More ana more people are becoming disturbed over the situation. Stop the chaos ahead by STOPPING "Bill 8", The French Language Services Act of Ontario. IT IS AN ACT SHROUDED IN SECRECY AND DECEIT! French trained agitators, aggressive and loud, are in every community across Canada, and not only French Quebecers. Please, in the name of justice and human dignity, do not listen to them. Get some true facts and eliminate the servitude that lies ahead for us if we don't. Let's tell it like it is! First of all, take your children children out of French Immersion Immersion classes and start, boycotting boycotting Quebec products.'We must thwart this aggression without delay. The smoke screens, like "free trade" that they are putting out for us will work lor them if we allow it and do not beware. If you want proof of what I have stated, contact Box 100, Barrie, Ontario. L4M 4S9. Yours for English- speaking Canada, it.- - / ■ , R. Mallory , Barrie, Ontario. Getting Getting Rid of Hazardous Garbage Dear Editor, Each household in the Town of Newcastle must have one or more of the following following items; a car battery, used motor oil, drain cleaner, cleaner, lighter fluid (from those days when you used to smoke!) turpentine, gasoline, gasoline, bleach, ammonia, rat poison, cleaning fluids, pesticides pesticides (from those aays when you had not yet discovered discovered the natural remedies!), medicine, paints, paint thinner, thinner, furniture polish, herbicides herbicides (from before partici- paction!), solvents, etc, etc. All of these items can not be dumped at any waste disposal disposal facility or dump. So, what to do? There are two answers: 1st - Take the above items to Pickering. Go north on Brock Road (Regional (Regional Road #1) to the flashing flashing amber light. This is Concession Concession Road #3. then turn West 1/2 kni to the gate of the Hazardous Household Progress Made in Recycling The Region of Durham recently chose to exercise the option of terminating the contract for recycling services with Durham Recycling Recycling Centre Inc. (D.R.C.I.) by issuing a twelve month notice to end May 12, 1990. It is our understanding that this notice period will allow a review of existing services and various possible alternative alternative systems designed to meet the Region's goal of 25% waste reduction by 1993. Durham Recycling has grown'out of the efforts of area residents who, as much as fifteen years ago, were concerned about traditional methods of disposal and wanted to provide for themselves themselves environmentally friendly alternatives to landfill landfill ana incineration. Volunteers Volunteers led the way with drop off depots for the collection of waste materials for recycling. recycling. After years of education education and promotion of these controversial ideas, drop off depots led to curbside collection collection as a convenient alternative alternative to garbage pickup. With traditi iitional methods pany is battling back to gain the market market share it once enjoyed. It deserves the chance to do so. _ _ _ 'cycling beg£ work co-operatively with the Region to establish recycling as an effective alternative to landfill by providing this essential essential service to all residents residents for an increasing number number of materials. Currently D.R.C.I. collects, collects, processes and markets over 1300 tonnes of newspaper, newspaper, glass, cans, plashes, cardboard and fine papers, each month through collection collection from 90,000 blue recycling recycling boxes, twenty drop off depots and 400 schools and offices. More than forty drivers, drivers, equipment operators and material handlers work to pick up, sort, bale and ship those materials to end use markets. Durham Recycling Centre Centre Inc. is working actively to reach the 25% waste reduction reduction goal established by the Region of Durham through pilot projects in corrugated corrugated cardboard collection, collection, multi family dwelling collection and mixed plastics collection and processing, as well ns expanding drop off depot services and collections collections from commercial industrial industrial waste generators. With expanded processing capacity through an addition addition to the recycling facility now approved, these pilot projects will lead to full scale programs within the notice period, moving the Region closer to its waste reduction reduction goal. Durham Recycling has a long history of concern and involvement with the development development of waste reduction and recycling services and is well respected throughout the industry for its efforts. Representatives from municipalities municipalities across Ontario, other other Provinces and many States have visited our operation operation or called to request information information to learn from our experiencejin the field. Durham Recycling has worked hard to develop waste reduction and recycling recycling for the residents of the Region of Durham from the 1970's when this concept was unpopular to the present when it is one of the few disposal alternatives that is supported by all levels levels of government and residents. residents. Should the Region decide, as the conclusion of their review review process, to renegotiate our contract, we look forward forward to continuing to work with the Region to bring expanded expanded recycling services to all its residents. For more information please contact: Glenda Gies, General Manager, Durham Recycling Centre Centre Inc. 579-5264, 683-4244, Waste Collection Depot. The 2nd method is to avoid, as much as is possible, possible, buying, using or storing the articles on the list above. Where ever possible use an alternative which is less toxic toxic or harmful or purchase only enough to do the job. If you have extra, or some left over, you may find a friend or neighbour who can use the extra material. If you have no friends this is an excellent excellent excuse for making one or more. If these hazardous household household waste products are not properly contained or disposed, disposed, they sooner or later end up in some one's drinking drinking water. Imagine a stifling hot day and someone offers you a cooling glass of used motor oil, "yuk", or asks you "Do you want one lump or two in your cup of warm drain cleaner"? I think water is too precious precious to be taken for granted. granted. Take care of those hazardous hazardous wastes and we will continue to have clean water for many ye J. Velcfht /ears. iiuis. Dear Editor: We are writing letters to newspapers across Canada, to register our strong opposition opposition to the proposed Cigar Lake Uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan. The Cigar Lake "test mine" will involve the construction construction of access roads, bulldozing, blasting, digging, digging, the removal of tonnes of ore, and release of dangerous dangerous radon gas. Given governments' governments' loyalty to nuclear development, it seems unlikely unlikely that Saskatchewan, Ottawa, or the Atomic Energy Energy Control Board will order a shutdown of the project after after completion oi tne so- called "test mine - - no matter matter how much damage has or will be incurred . . . unless unless there is a hue and cry from the public - - like there was over the government's proposed nuclear-powered submarine purchase. Canada is the world's leading exporter of uranium - - feed material for the nuclear nuclear arms race and civilian nuclear power generation. All the uranium mined at Cigar Lake is to be for export. export. Government assurances assurances that Canada's uranium is used only for "peaceful purposes" purposes" aren't very convincing: convincing: Ontario Hydro, our civilian civilian nuclear utility has, for example, held at feast one seminar, at which staff of major nuclear bomb manufacturers manufacturers were present (Toronto (Toronto Star, October 4th. 1988, A13). Several years ago our government facilitated facilitated the export of a Candu reactor to India, which led to the explosion of a "peaceful nuclear device". The "peaceful use" mandate mandate is merely polite accounting accounting procedure: it seems to bear no relation to how the world's pool of uranium and nuclear Know-how is actually actually disseminated. Came- co, a Canadian uranium mining interest, is pursuing Cigar Lake in with, Cogema, militaiy outfit that tests weapons in the South Pacific. Pacific. Other partners in this deal are South Korea (a country with a dreadful human human rights record), as well as a Japanese company that may well wish to fly deadly plutonium over Canada's north, en route between Britain and Japan. And last, but not least by any means, are Canadian taxpayers - - inadvertent shareholders in the heavily -subsidized nuclear nuclear industry. The proposed mine at Cigar Cigar Lake will place workers, the public, and the environ- f pm partnership the French ment at serious risk. Deposits Deposits in this region are of particular particular interest to the' nuclear industry, for they contain extremely high- grade radioactive uranium ore. Both the industry and its opponents agree that the high radioactivity and depth of uranium from the surface will present unparalleled' technical problems. And because because of these uncontrollable uncontrollable dangers, the nuclear industry industry has pondered the use of robots to work in such a deadly environment! The provincial and federal federal governments have taken no initiative whatsoever to provide an open, meaningful public forum for assessment of the Cigar Lake project. Despite a swell, of opposition, opposition, in 1988 provincial environment environment minister Herb Swan approved three other uranium mines at Wollaston Lake - - without independent independent environmental assessment, assessment, and without public hearing. These radioactive sores will be mere open pits, situated several nundred metres from a major water body, serving community needs of the north. The partnership with nuclear nuclear weapons makers is being being done in Canadians' names. Our domestic atomic industry has already left a legacy of 130 million tonnes of unrestrained, highly toxic uranium mine tailings, in addition to over 12,400 metric metric tonnes of spent nuclear fuel, temporarily stored at reactor sites. For public safety, the nuclear industry would have to guarantee isolation isolation of some of these wastes from human beings, plants, and ground water for up to one-quarter million years! Enough is enough! Urge your MP to help stop the Cigar Cigar Lake uranium mine development. development. Also write to: Herb Swan, Saskatchewan Minister of Environmental and Public Safety, Legislative Legislative Building, Regina, Saskatchewan Saskatchewan S4S OB3; Hon Jake Epp, Minister of Energy, Energy, Mines & Resources, House of Commons, Ottawa K1A 0A6; and Hon. Lucien Bouchard, Minister of the Environment, House of Commons, Ottawa K1A 0A6. The voices of ordinary Canadians do make a difference. difference. That is largely why the nuclear-powered submarine submarine scheme was cancelled, and why South Moresby in British Columbia is now a protected national park! Yours truly, Anne Hansen Irene Kock Time for a Tax Revolt! By Robert E. Stiles It is near time that our politicians got their heads out of the clouds and back to the real world. I would like to know how our Regional Council can justify a 19% increase in taxes to go along with the federal and provincial budgets. Then we have the School Board raising Education Education Taxes to the tune of 14.9%. We cannot forget the local council increasing their taxes by 9.7%. We arc told over and over that we should not expect an increase in wages over the inflation rate which is expected to be around four to five percent. Then you gel some of these politicians giving themselves an 84% raise. Just how long can we stand, or put up with this highway robbery of our hard earned money from these incompetent politicians? politicians? We arc told that the school board needs money for updating computers, Regional Regional Council says they need more money for 201 new staff positions. Local council says they need more money for a $300,000 fire station for Enniskillen. There does not seem to be any mention of how much the FORCED garbage collection collection is going to cost us. Who asked for this extra cost? At least we have one school trustee, Bill Carman, who knows when the taxpayer taxpayer is overburdened and voted against the increase. The Town ol' Newcastle experienced tremendous growth, around 10 percent last year, according to our Mayor. Where have all the taxes gone that the town receives receives from these large 40 and 50 foot lots? The way builders arc allowed to build houses so close to each other is ridiculous. It just goes to show you how greedy the builders arc and how much more greedy the politicians are for allowing the houses to be built so ■ close. But litis does not slop them from raising our taxes every year, Then we are told that we will have a delegation of councillors going to Hong Kong to drum up some in vestment for the region. 1 would, like to know how many arc going and arc the taxpayers expected to pay the $1700.00 per person? On lop of that, I understand that this motion was not passed by council. Also, arc they going to take their wife and/or husband? If some other business or persons pay for this trip for our councillors what do they get in return further down the road? I think that it is nearly time that we had a massive lax revolt until we get politicians who arc responsible, responsible, representative and accountable to the people who they serve. Paying 54 cents of every $1.00 we earn in TAXES is just too much. TIME FOR ACTION! P.S. -- LOWER TAXES puls more spending money in people's pockets and therefore produces higher revenues. And only in Canada Canada there is no legislative mechanism in place to allow voters to overrule politicians, except at election election time.