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I SECTION TWO WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24,1990 S&t Canadian Statesman Durham Region's Great Family Journal Established 136 years ago in 1854 Also Incorporating m ■* t I e The Bowmanville News ■ The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second Class mail registration number 1561 1 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 Brian Purdy rdy Donald Bishop 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 Foreign -- $60.00 per year s \ 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 office duty signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted In writing thereon, and In that case if any error so noted Is not corrôcted by The Canadian Statesman its liability shall not exceed such a portion of the entire cost of such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement. Recycling Week is November 19-23 p: 1 §§! Editorial Comment mil Prepare for the Worst, It's Not Going to be Fun Dear Sir: Re: Recycling Week '90 'The Future is R's" November 19-23 Since 1988,. the Town of Newcastle has officially recognized recognized Recycling Week activities activities in our community. As volunteer Recycling Week Co-Ordinators, we coordinate coordinate a wide range of public education initiatives which focus on community awareness in the 3 R's hierarchy hierarchy of waste reduction: REDUCE, RE-USE and RECYCLE. RECYCLE. Local business has been supportive of community waste reduction initiatives, as was evidenced in our 1989 undertakings; particularly. particularly. the very successful Waste Workshop held at the Bowmanville Public Library. Once again, we shall be offering offering a Waste Workshop with the co-operation of our Public Library, and it is for this reason we have contacted contacted your business. The value of the Waste workshop lies in our youthworking youthworking with "waste" materials materials provided by local busi ness. These materials might be by-products from a manufacturing manufacturing process, or, waste from a commercial exter- prise which would possibly find its way to a landfill site. Consequently, we endeavour to divert these materials from landfill sites, all the while allowing area youth to work creatively with them. A valuable lesson is learned, and children of all ages have a wonderful time using their boundless imaginations. We shall follow-up this letter with a telephone call in a week or two, with the hope that you will aid us with this project. Any "clean" waste which you might have to contribute to the Workshop, we shall make arrangements to pickup pickup and store it until the date of the Workshop. We look forward to discussing discussing this worthwhile community project and thank you for your time. Yours truly, (Mrs.) Suzanne Elston, (Mrs.) Helen MacDonald, Town of Newcastle, Recycling Recycling Week Volunteer Co- Ordinators. ' If you listen carefully in the offices of municipal government, you might hear the sound of staff and politicians battening down the hatches. ; It seems as though government is expecting some stormy sailing over the 1 next few months as the economy moves deeper into the realm of the dreaded R-word. A recession will certainly leave its mark on your friendly, neighbourhood n yo branch or local and regional government. government. And, for that matter, school hoards will also be feeling the pinch. Governments will be forced to tighten tighten the purse strings. This trend could be seen on Monday, Monday, when a committee of Newcastle's Town Council decided that, unless forced to do so by factors outside their control, the municipality won't be creating any new staff positions in .1991. - And, over at the Durham Region, elected officials are hoping to bring in a 1991 budget which shows an increase increase of just under seven per cent. And this rather optimistic target was approved despite rising welfare costs. As of the end of September, the welfare welfare caseload had risen by almost 60 per cent over the same time last year. Municipal, politicians are faced with the problem of providing continued municipal services at a time when growth has drastically slowed. The problem goes something like this: In a recessionary time, governments governments lose some of their sources of revenue. For instance, it would appear as though the Town of Newcastle's building building activity will be about one-third of what it was last year. This means a reduction reduction in income from such sources as building permits and lot levies. And, as the recession hits, governments governments find that businesses go out of operation and no longer pay taxes. Therefore, another source of revenue begins to shrink. Furthermore, it's quite possible that the upper-tier governments governments will be less capable of providing providing grants because they are facing a financial squeeze of their own. Moreover, as growth slows down, municipalities have fewer new taxpayers taxpayers moving into the community to contribute contribute their share to the tax bill. And although the sources of revenue revenue for local government dry up, the demand for government spending does not. People coping with a recession still expect to see the arenas operating and their roads repaired and their children educated. In fact, as can be seen from the higher welfare load at the Durham Region, some costs actually actually increase. Oh yes,' we've forgot to mention one more factor. There is also an election coming next November. And, if you think taxpayers are angry angry over paying tax bills in the good times, just try to bring in a tax increase increase in the middle of a recession. It's no enviable task. If there were logic to this process, f overnments might actually try to uild up some kind of a reserve that they could-use to help meet the demands demands of a fiscal "rainy day." In fact, some people will suggest that governments should be spending money in recessions in order to create jobs and try to prime the pump of the economy. But, instead, government is facing the recession in much the same way as the majority of its citizens. It's taking some short-term emergency maneuvers maneuvers and keeping its fingers and toes crossed. And it's hoping that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a freight train heading in our general direction. Letter Writer Favors GST Implementation Pharmacies Butt Out The governing body of Ontario's pharmacists has just made a very courageous courageous decision. It's taking the first steps which will lead to an eventual ban on cigarettes and other tobacco products in Ontario's Ontario's drug stores. In a decision made on Tuesday, October October 16, the College of Pharmacists' governing council reached a landmark decision which will result in a ban of tobacco sales in pharmacies "as quickly quickly as it is practical to do so." A task force has been established to follow through on that goal. The decision is a courageous one because because it is estimated that the sale of tobacco products accounts for between $700 million and $800 million per year in Ontario pharmacies. And, no doubt, the availability of cigarettes encourages encourages customers to come to the drug store to buy other products such as soap or toothpaste. In deciding to ban tobacco sales, the pharmacists are voting with their consciences. consciences. And yet, the College of Pharmacists Pharmacists noted in a news release announcing announcing their decision that the elimination of tobacco sales is "consistent "consistent with the pharmacist's role as a health care professional." In other words, it makes little moral sense for pharmacists to sell cigarettes at one counter of their establishment while dispensing, at another counter, certain medications which attempt to treat the conditions resulting from the use of tobacco. As might be expected, the decision of the College of Pharmacists does not meet the unanimous support of its members. Some pharmacists argue that since tobacco is still a legal product, product, making it available to. the public is merely providing a service to their customers and allowing thorn to purchase purchase in a pharmacy something that they undoubtedly would otherwise buy somewhere else. Some pharmacists are angry over the College decision . because they claim that their governing body has no right to toll pharmacists wlmt kind of non-proscription items they can place on their shelves. . ■ Nevertheless, it scorns that the symbolic importance of banning a dangerous, dangerous, albeit legal, product from On tario's drug stores has been deemed to outweigh customer convenience or monetary benefits. Or at least that's how the College of Pharmacists views the situation. It remains to be seen how the rank-and-file members will react to the proposed ban. The dangers of smoking have been documented, ad nauseum, in the past decade or so. But it's significant that a group of health care professionals has decided that smoking is so dangerous that they will attempt to ban tobacco products from their stores altogether. And the ban will take place even if it means a loss of revenue to the stores concerned. Smokers will claim, of course, that if cigarettes are dangerous, they are just one of many dangers that are part of daily living. Some will attempt to rationalize smoking by claiming that although smoking is risky, so are many other things such as drinking alcoholic alcoholic beverages or even the overconsumption overconsumption of chocolate bars. That argument does contain a grain of truth, but not much. Cigarettes harm the user when they arc used in exactly the way that they are supposed to be used, In this respect, respect, they are somewhat unlike alcohol alcohol or potato chips or chocolate bars which become a danger when they are used in excess. (Having said that, however, however, we wouldn't bo surprised if there's a campaign against alcohol once the anti-cigarette forces have won their battle.) Secondly, cigarettes harm persons other than the smoker through the dangers of second-hand smoke. And no matter what you might say about the consumption of chocolate bars or potato potato chips, they certainly do not harm innocent innocent third parties. The dangers of cigarettes are proven proven and irrefutable. And the decision by the College of Pharmacists should help to highlight those dangers and perhaps convince a few more people to give up an unhealthy unhealthy habit. It remains to bo scon where the government government will find the additional revenue revenue once the practice of smoking has disappeared and, with it, those lucrative lucrative taxes that have boon placed on tobacco tobacco products for decades, Re: Orono Times, October 17, 1990, Council Briefs. Councillors Hamre and Stapleton: Stapleton: G.S.T. "Everyone is opposed to it" G.S.T. additional additional costs to the Town of Newcastle Accounting. I object to these arrogant statements. I am FOR the G.S.T. My only objection to this tax is it is not coming soon enough, nor is it high enough. The Goods and Services Services Tax should have been left at 9%. Would a thinking person carry a large balance on their Visa for 16 years, only paying a portion of the interest interest due each year, thus increasing increasing the balance owing year after year? I think not, but that is what Canadians have knowingly done with THEIR National Debt. Why does the Town of Newcastle staff have to be increased because of the G.S.T.? The G.S.T. is only one more line on the Town s new comprehensive computer computer system. I believe the Town accounting staff were provided with special prices on their home computers so they would become fully computer literate. If the Xmas Wishes From 4H Club To Peter Parrott and the Bowmanville Statesman Staff: From: The Durham East 4-H Council We would like you to accept accept these Christmas Cards as a token of our appreciation appreciation for the excellent coverage coverage you have been giving to the 4-H program. These cards were commissioned commissioned by the Ontario 4- H Council as part of the celebration celebration of the 75th Anniversary Anniversary of the first 4-H Club in Ontario. Further orders can be purchased from the OMAF office or through a 4-H leader. leader. Profits go to further leadership leadership development of 4-H leaders and members in Durham East. Barbara Weese staff has accomplished this there shoud be no need for extra costs or staff. Recession and responsibilities responsibilities for debt control are not unique to Canada, these are global problems. Canadians Canadians are fortunate and if they can find the guts to get on with it, there is a good chance this country, Canada, Canada, will survive and give our younger generation a positive positive future. Sincerely, A Canadian who cares, Lorraine Lover, Newcastle. Skydome is Tax Burden Dear Sir: What a fine kettle of fish! Premier Rae's new government government has just announced a huge budget deficit of more than $2.5 billion. The economy is in a recession. Bankruptcies are soaring. Toronto's police force can't respond to half its emergency emergency calls because , of staff shortages, v «Vain «Vain the middle of dll this, Rae's government announces announces that it would use our tax dollars to bailout the financially financially troubled Skydome! We don't think governments governments should be in the business business of owning a sports stadium, stadium, hotel ana fitness centre. In fact, Rae's government government has no more business subsidizing the Skydome than Prime Minister Mul- roney has in handing our $88 million of our tax dollars dollars to Toronto's ballet-opera house. The Ontario government has got to start drawing a line somewhere. It can't keep treating out tax dollars like they grow on trees. Why not privatize the Skydome? That way, not only would the Skydome cease to be a drain on Ontario Ontario taxpayers but we would benefit from the privatization privatization revenues. Yours Truly, David Somerville President The National Citizen's Coalition Toronto, Ont. X >?fo > fatft "imitey" Tufncoflj v "GST" as U is sometimes town to His friends, is mrpnd to pt ridirw in our difedïM and /tày àfrivt in Jdwuftry d jffll. Bnkt/s guess M his IfâàHzed M-ftràbbirfl rill cost Hi Jour) of NewcÆffe N tilDjOOO a year. Citizens are uarud to wgtcjiouf. Andrea Adair Kids have to be the toughest audience for a performer to win over. They fidget, talk to each other, play, look around, get up,.sit down, etc. etc. For performers to catch their attention and hold it for a solid hour or two, they must be doing really well. The task for people who organize those performances performances is to find performers performers who can do just that. For that reason, my hat is off to the organizers organizers of the Community Cushion Concert Series at Hampton Junior Public Public School. They are beginning their fourth season of performances performances this year and the line-up appears to be one that will capture the attention of children from any age. Wayne McCurdy, principal principal at Hampton, said "there is a real talent to being a children's performer." performer." Since kids have TV, movies, and video games as well as a range of organized organized activities for them to participate in, shows have to be really up-beat' to keep their interest, he noted. Last year, I saw each show since they happened happened to fall on weekends when I was scheduled to work. "Brad and Paul," a couple of musicians had the kids on their feet singing along with them five minutes after they sat down. Licorice All Sorts, the second show, wasn't quite as gnod as the first. While the women were talented performers, they lost my interest after 10 minutes and the kids were gone before that. I think they forgot that kids expect a little more in their entertainment than a lesson in music. But, the grand finale last year, "Garbage Delight" Delight" was most definitely a delight. It was a play based on poems by Dennis Lee that, if I remember correctly, correctly, left a message that there wasn't anything to fear in the dark. At the end of the show the cast was besieged with questions from the floor about how a certain part was performed and about where the actors lived and what they do as actors. And the actors didn't have names like Hulk Hogan, Leonardo or New Kids on the Block. The Community Cushion Cushion Concert series is something to do with the kids on a Saturday morning morning instead of watching Scooby Doo or Pee Wee's Playhouse. But it is more than that. It is also exposing children to a world of live entertainment productions productions and it may be forming forming an interest the kids will carry into the future. An interest other than watching donnybrooks on ice rinks or playing video games til thumbs are as strong as the entire fist. Mr. McCurdy said so many performers also want to teach the kids , something through their act. Many deal with self- concept and street proofing. proofing. Others deal with accepting accepting racial differences with the idea, he said, "that we're all different but we're all good." So the performances are not just dumb little items, like television sets, that will amuse kids for a couple of hours. They truly are educational educational and entertaining. If they weren't, I don't believe anyone involved with organizing the series series would continue with it. Moving into the fourth year of performances, the show keeps getting better and promises to do so in the future. Pressing Matters In One Small Town -- by John E. James -- A Brief Essay- On What's Wrong With This Country Ahhh, it's so easy to shut the lids and conjure the images. We see you, dear reader... reader... especially folks who busted their butts for the last 26 years, only to watch helplessly ns the nation's fabric unravels. Ilow'ro wo doing so far? Bctchn there's a ton of people out there, thinking.... thinking.... Wllrrrright! Let's kick sonic butt! Time those Boogors learned a lesson lesson r ...well, they won't like ■ the next paragraph, 'cause that's whore wo cut from the chase to the bottom lino. Wlmt's wrong with this country isioiu No mistake, Amigo. Want things put straight? Look in tho mir ror, because part of that "Kickbutt" paragraph was omitted: "...as long as you don't increase MY taxes, crimp MY standard of living, damage MY lifestyle, threaten MY job, etc." Precisely when did you bury your head in the sand? Notice how everybody everybody EXCEPT 1 you is always always wrong? Remember the basic principle of democracy? Majority rules. If the b.s. remover is over applied to this situation, it will only reveal one thing: YOU are tho guy dumping on doorsteps. According to roughly 85% of Canadians sampled sampled in public opinion polls, Canada's prime minister Brian Mulronoy is a jork. Wo won't dispute dispute that, but examination examination of tho Mulronoy years proves fruitful. In 198-1, XQU sont Mulronoy to Ottawa to stop tho country from going going down tho toilet. Two things hnminnnil: In 'Phase One' Mulron- ey's mob sat down with the civil servants who REALLY run this country, country, to learn the facts of life. They were told: "Okay, you've all done a wonderful thing, offering offering to serve your country. Everyone is proud of you. It's a dirty job, but in appreciation appreciation for these wonderful wonderful personal sacrifices you're making, your country country wants to take care of you for tho rest of you life (...just like us civil servants)." servants)." They bought it, and with today's self-centered attitudes who expected otherwise? Poof the risks were gone. So was tho incentive. incentive. Our 'crusaders' wore suddenly confronted with distractions: fat salaries, huge expense accounts, indexed pensions, full benefits, etc. Back to school, boys and girls. Question: "How do you win a crusade? 11 Answer: "Bravo souls put thoir butts on tho lino. Thov don't fill out ex pense accounts, nor idle away the day worrying about monthly payouts on pensions." To their credit, Mul- roney's Mob still attempted attempted to do the job. Enter 'Phase Two': somebody pricked the Public Opinion Balloon, and its contents fell to earth with crushing impact. impact. Consider the bold initiative initiative to limit increases in future senior citizen payments. No single so- cio-domographic group is better off, nor better protected protected than Canada's senior senior citizens, (or more aware of the country's needs). But public reaction reaction to that move fell just short of organized lynch mobs. Mulronoy caved in, destroying a crucial cornerstone cornerstone of tho Tories' original fix-it plan. Tho same thing happened every time important elements elements in thoir overall strategy wore implemented. implemented. Blame Mulronoy for lnnkinor nnniinh mils In stay on course. BUT blame yourself for putting putting him in that position. After six years of incessant incessant Bob and Weave dance stops, the poor guy hasn't enough backbone loft to handle a few Indians Indians protecting lucrative bingo and cigarette scams. YOU made him what he is today. But, if wc'rc choosing someone to relieve relieve him on tho mound, a bullpen consisting of Audrey Audrey McLaughlin and Jean Chretien ain't exactly exactly reassuring. Here's an alternative nobody has considered. What if wo tried 'pitching in' ourselves, and wo ALL started playing like a team? If nobody wants to give anything back, lino. But for heavens' sake, lot's stop demanding MORE! Put on tho brakes. Suck in tho bolt. And, when your number comes up on tho board, do your part. In the long run, you have no other options. Nor do your kids, or their kids...if they're foolish foolish enough to bring children children into this world we're so selfishly dcstructing. How arc our chances? Hey, pretty good, IE people people on the leading edge of this lemming-like march come to their senses and act responsibly. Who begins? If logic lends tho way, there's no more appropriate group than TEACHERS. Nobody Nobody benefits more from our largess, Nobody continues continues to press demands in n more damaging manner. manner. Who could sot a finer standard for future generations generations than tho people who TEACH those youngsters? youngsters? One last point: before you blame teachers for our ills, you arc tho guys who pressure school trustees trustees and politicians to give teachers what they want, when little Johnny is forced out of school by n strike. Chow on THAT for n while,