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The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, November 21,1990 15 A guide to fine dining and entertainment. Heading for a Doomsday Scenario ? Imagine for a moment that it is the year 2020. A young man and his 10 year old daughter are on their way from greater Toronto to visit the site of what was once the 'Family Farm' in the former former Township of Clarke. Is it possible that these two people from future generations could have the following conversation? conversation? "Why haven't we ever visited visited Grandpa and Grandma's Grandma's old house before, Daddy? Daddy? We only live 20 minutes away." He was disturbed by his daughter's question as he slowed the solar car to exit from highway "407 onto the ramp for the Ganaraska Freeway. As they sped past the endless rows of large estate estate homes, he considered his reply. "Well, it's not a very pretty pretty place to visit anymore!" he said. "Before I was born, 'Tis the Season for Christmas Carols . ! - I "i Ç y .y ^ }$.£; VA Children's performer Brian Williston was the guest entertainment at the Visual Arts Centre's craft sale over the past weekend. Brian coaxed visitors into the Christmas spirit following the Santa Claus parade by singing a number of Christ- . mas carols with the children on hand. several environmental disasters disasters occurred in this area!" He searched for the words to try and explain to his young daughter what had happened happened to this once beautiful rural area. He stopped the car at the top of a hill that once had provided a sweeping sweeping view of their "family farm 1 and the countryside beyond. As they opened the air-lock doors ana stepped out, they were almost overwhelmed overwhelmed by the stench that greeted them. The view was worse. "This is gross!" cried his daughter. Directly in front of them, the huge landfill operation stretched across hundreds of acres. The seagulls screeched over head ana the occasional rat could be glimpsed scurrying among the piles of garbage. "Just over that hill of garbage garbage was your grandparents' farm. Your ancestors lived in this area from the mid 1800's until the end of the 20th century. If things had been different, you might have been the 8th generation generation to live here!" he stated. "But, how could this have been allowed to happen?" demanded demanded his angry daughter. "It is not an easy thing to explain," he said. "The people people who lived around here at that time didn't really believe believe this could happen. There were a few vocal people people who tried to warn them of the danger to the environment, environment, but most people were too busy with their daily lives to worry about the future. future. Some people even believed believed the so-called 'experts' employed by the dump owners owners who claimed that the site was safe and could be properly 'engineered'!" ■'But Daady, they must have known what the dump would do to the water and "Outstanding!" This was the general consensus consensus on "The Only Game in Town," presented last Thursday and Friday by St. Stephens. O.A.C. drama class., Audience members had nothing but praise for the musical, and agreed that it was of the same high quality they had come to expect from St. Stephen's drama productions. Senior actors included Dayne Lycett, Catherine Miles, Adam Carter, Paula Dumouchel, John Robichaud and Brian Vanderkwaak. Two talented grade nines, Mamie O'Toole and Jean O'Brien, rounded out the cast. After the final performance, performance, the cast presented Mr. John Sheridan with a gift to thank him for the exceptional exceptional job he did in writing, writing, producing and directing the snow. Mr. Sheridan was taken by surprise, but recovered recovered sufficiently to praise the actors' performances as "superb." He also congratulated Mr. T. Hunt ana Ms. M. Mackinnon, who provided flawless musical accompaniment. accompaniment. Mr. Sheridan has been in charge of drama at St. Stephen's Stephen's for four years, and the success of the productions productions during that time is a testament to his talent and hard work. If you missed this one, be sure to catch the next production in the spring. For athletes at St. Stephen's, Stephen's, November means hoops. The midget and junior junior boys' teams have both started their seasons. Both look very strong. But the real basketball story is the midget girls' team. Last week they defeated Clarke 52-42 to win their league with a 7-3 record. Going Going into the Kawartha district district playoffs, the team was rocked by the news that power-forward Andrea Can non, a key player, had been disqualified from further league play, due to a technicality. technicality. , Bench strength had been a problem all year long, and without Andrea, the team lost in the finals to Camp- bellford. However, their second second place finish was enough to take them into the COS- SA playoffs this Thursday. Coach Muldoun cites speed and stamina as his team's biggest asset. Their fast-break, running game and vigorous man-to-man (person-to-person?) defence force turnovers and quickly turn them into baskets. "The girls have improved a lot over the season," says the coach, "quickly learning strategies and applying them!' v Recent injuries to key players, combined with Andrea's Andrea's absence, have diminished diminished the team's chances of succeeding at COSSA. However, However, team member Maria Risorto describes the team spirit as "high" and admits that the prospect of missing school to play in additional tournaments, provides an extra incentive to win. Mr. Muldoun likens his team to the Cincinnati Reds, when no one had given them, a chance to win. He even drew a parallel between the Reds' outstanding "Nasty Boys'" bullpen, and his team's outstanding "Nasty Girls'" forward line of Brian- na McGuire, Natasha Bal and Sarah Dacey. Good luck on Thursday! Students council has organized organized a Dance-a-thon, to be held November 23rd. Students Students able to collect $75 in pledges are allowed to participate participate in the 12-nour dance. Proceeds go to various various charities and the school. Sounds like fun, I think. Please be kind to students soliciting pledges. Until next week, live long and prosper. -By Robert de Verteuil. the land around here,. Even the kids in my class know what a dump can do on a bad site!" she exclaimed. "That's true," he said slowly, "there were many independent independent consultants" reports reports that for years had warned of the dangers to the environment. Even the Ministry Ministry of the Environment was on record with their concerns. But you have to understand," he continued, "At that time, the people of Greater Toronto were in the middle of a garbage crisis and were desperate for a place to dump tneir garbage. At that time, this area did not have a large population. It was mainly farms and villages. villages. It had to go somewhere. somewhere. This area was convenient, convenient, not safe - but convenient!" "I don't understand," said the little girl, "Where did all this garbage come from? "Well," responded her father, father, "in those days, people didn't recycle and re-use the way we do today. They used to produce millions of tonnes of garbage a year. The only thing they could think to do with it was to dump it into a hole in the ground. "But didn v t they realize they were destroying their erinvironment?" she asked. "How could they be so dumb?" "Eventually they learned their lesson, 1 ' he told her, "but by then it was too late for this area. The damage had been done. Two major dumps buried this area under under millions of tonnes of garbage. garbage. One dump took all of Durham's garbage, the other one took most ofGreater Toronto's Toronto's garbage. They both destroyed hundreds of acres of farmland and contaminated contaminated the area for miles around. There was even a tire dump over there that accepted accepted millions of tires until the big fire of;2010." "Does anybody farm around here anymore?" she asked. .. "Not anymore," he said. "Once the dumps started polluting the area, the farmers farmers were forced to sell. Some sold to developers who either either built houses or just stripped away the topsoil for sale elsewhere." "But, how can people stand to live in such an awful awful place?" she questioned.. "Unfortunately," he explained, explained, "if people have to, they can get used to almost anything. Over time, people began to forget what it was like around here. I remember remember your Grandpa telling me about a huge forest that ran across the top of Clarke Township. There were rolling rolling hills of farmland that used to feed many people and the creeks actually had fish in them! Now it is almost almost all covered up by dumps, houses and expressways." expressways." "If I had lived back then, I would have done something something about it!" exclaimed the upset girl. "Some people did try," he replied. "They gave a lot of their time ana energy to convince convince others what was happening happening to their community. Perhaps if more people had listened and taken action, things might be different today. today. Who Knows, maybe our family would still be living in Clarke Township." This 'doomsday' scenario scenario is unlikely to happen happen in our community. There are too many people people who are committed to preserving our environment environment and our way of life. But it is up to us to make vary sure that our grandchildren grandchildren never have to ask these question, and our children never have to try and defend our actions actions (or lack of them). •■By David Scott No Justice For Reader Dear Editor: In the past few weeks we have heard many tales of how backlogged our courts are and how cases are now being thrown out of court for various reasons. I was served my Notice To Appear on September 20 to attend Small Claims Court in Bowmanville on November 15. I am the plaintiff. To start the morning off, the Judge was 17 minutes late. When my case was called, a lawyer stood up for the defendant, who was absent, absent, and said to the Judge that the defendant is unable to appear today as, and I quote, "that something has come up at work and he is very busy and unable to be here today." The defendant had informed this lawyer two days prior that this was going to Happen. The Judge then agreed to remand the case to a future date. I asked the Judge when this would be? He stated he does not know as there are no dates set in the future. I was under the assumption assumption that when you are told to appear in court, you be there. When has it become the case where a defendant is allowed to pick and choose his court date to suit his own personal needs? What about wasting the court's time and the plaintiff's time? I wonder if the courts are really backlogged or is it the way the Judges are handling handling their cases? I was awarded $50.00 for my time by the Judge. This does not cover my costs of staffing my business (because (because I was absent), the gas for my vehicle and my personal personal time. Because of this I am out money. Is this justice?" justice?" It seems that today, Judges are more concerned about the defendant's needs • 'arid'rights that that of- the victims of society. When is ; this going to stop? Yours truly One disgruntled citizen ' , Craft and Art Sale Held at Visual Arts Centre The Visual Arts Centre had a craft and art sale at the Cream of Barley Mill on November 17 and 18 and offered items such as hand painted earrings, small paintings paintings and baked goods for sale to visitors. One of the activities organized for children children was a t-shirt painting table. Chantel Barkey was one of many children who spent a few minutes brightening her "Kids at the Mill" shirt. SATURDAY NIGHT BUFFET Only $ 13.95 A Delightful Combination of Chinese and Canadian Entrees Party Reservations now being taken FRANKLIN HOUSE INN Bethany, Cty, Rd. 38 Opposite DEVIL'S ELBOW PHONE 277-3297 BàùtfUtf you QifU and QneetùUfl. .. Drastic Drop In Building Across Region The amount of building activity taking place in the municipality has dropped dramatically since last year. A report in this week's general purpose and administration administration committee agenda reveals that construction activity activity to date is less than one-third of that recorded during 1989. Although building activity activity for November andDecem- . ber have not yet been tallied, tallied, statistics released by the town's planning and development development department indicate indicate that building permits given to all categories of projects projects as of the end of October totalled $57.6 million. Residential, Residential, commercial and industrial industrial construction have all declined. Last ,month, only 102 building "permits were issued issued for construction valued at $6.4 million. So far this year, 487 new residential units have received received building permits. Residential "construction has accounted for $48.7 million million worth of building activity activity in the Town of Newcastle so far this year. KCU ^ NOW OPEN FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS Meet Me at the Marina T, Fridays from 8:30 p.m. hank Goodness 1rs DANCING to the Sounds of our Disc Jockey No Cover "LOONIE" LOTTERY DRAW 11 P.M; Uki Road oit UMny ses. Eld 4M. 401 lUlJSowmanvUi.OrlLICJKJ (416) 623-4925 Saturdays from 8:30 p.m. ' NCE to your Favorites of the '50s, '60s, 70s and this year's. HOTTEST NEW CLUB No Cover ^ Proper Dress Shooters * driving program In ihe BRIG TtaHMt Fmms iMàit n tfc Wrt Sandra Yates Phone 623-5873 Muriel Moynes Phone 623-7741 The cast from the play The unlv Game In Town" staged Thursday ana rrmay nignt in a "canaret, ior- assembles for this photograph following a perfor- mat, was a production of the school's OAC drama manco at the St. Stephen's High School Auditorium class. The show was written and directed by John last Friday evening. The musical comedy, which was Sheridan, the school's drama teacher. OSHAWA MODEL RAILROAD SHOW Saturday, sg Nov. 24th 11 a.m. to 4 p Eastdale Collegiate (High School) (Corner of Harmony Rd. N. and Adelaide St., Oshawa) Admission: Adults $3.00 Children under 14 $1.00 Under 5 Free Layouts, Operating Modules, Demonstrations THE AND * RESTAURANT PRESENTS 9PW is v iVVtvx -à - JS) .-'.jwr-ii* PRIME TYME" Friday, November 23rd Saturday, November 24th Appearing 9:00 p.m. No cover charge THE 'Pfycftÿ HOTEL Liberty St. and 401 623-3373 Bowmanville J