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/ SECTION TWO WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, : s&t Canadian ^ ta teaman Durham Region's Great Family Journal 0 Established 137 years ago in 1854 a Also Incorporating NIA The Bowmanville News The Newcastle Independent The Ororio News Second Class mail registration number 1561 Produced weekly by Jem* Publishing Company Limited 62 King Street West, Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 416-623-3303 Fax 416-623-6161 John M. James Editor - Publisher Richard A. James Associate Publisher Peter Parrott Brian Geo. Purdy Donald Bishop Associate Editor 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. Although every precaution will be taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising In its columns on the understanding that k will not be liable for 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 duly 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 corrected by The Canadian Statesman He liability shal 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. Gold Old School Days "Things sure aren't like they were when I was in school." How often we hear that phrase whenever the topic of public education comes up. And it's quite possible that the people who note how quickly schools have changed may have only graduated five or ten years ago. The one room schoolhouses, complete complete with slates and inkwells are gone, of course. So are the days of the early 1800s when government subsidies subsidies paid to each school were set at no more than £25. In view of the fact that school is going going back in session in less than a week, we'd like to introduce a few facts about education that you may not know. Yes, a lot has changed between today and the era of the Little Red Schoolhouse. But, big changes have also occurred between today's schools and those of 10 or 20 years ago. A recent publication from the Ministry Ministry of Education offers the following facts about Ontario schools. The Ministry estimates that 73 per cent of Ontario's 18-year-olds now graduate from high school. Back in 1966, the graduation rate was about 52 per cent. The complaint that schools don't always always prepare students for employment employment in the "real world" might be answered, answered, in part, by co-operative education. Prior to the mid-1970s, such programs which combine classroom classroom study with practical experience in the workplace weren't even in existence. existence. Today, about 55,000 students were participating in co-op programs. (We also seem to recall that one of the first high schools pioneering co-op education education was our own Clarke High School.) The use of computers in the classroom classroom is another example of changes occurring in the educational field. Chances are that even a junior kindergarten kindergarten student has used computers and the Ministry of Education's goal is one computer for every 10 students. By contrast, 30 years ago, computers computers were massive contraptions understood understood only by scientists. Electronic calculators, calculators, which were rare in the 1960's, are now so commonplace that some math programs are planned around them. Health education in the 1960's was confined to such topics as the finer points of grooming. Today, the topics under discussion include frank talk about safe sex, AIDS, birth control, and drugs. The home economics courses of the 1960's have been replaced by family studies courses where food and nutrition nutrition are still discussed, but the curriculum curriculum is much larger than sewing, cooking and other household skills. In family studies classes, students -- both male and female -- learn about modern family life and discuss topics such as relationships, parenting, and the handling of family crises. Today's school boards have been required required by the Ministry of Education to develop policies combatting racism and promoting equity, positive race relations relations and multiculturalism. It's estimated estimated that 100,000 students study heritage languages among 71 boards of education in Ontario. The changes in the school system can also be seen among school staff. For example, the Ministry of Education's Education's employment equity policy is attempting attempting to ensure that more qualified female candidates are appointed to positions positions of higher responsibility in the schools. In 1980, only 27 per cent of the candidates qualifying for a job as principal or vice-principal were women. women. But by 1990, that number had risen risen to 62 per cent. The Ministry wants to see women employed in 50 per cent Expect the Unexpected The most interesting thing about this year's big news stories has been the fact that they took everyone by surprise. Take, for example, the recent coup and counter-coup in the Soviet Union. At the start of the amazing turn of events, some of us were ready to believe believe that the Soviet reforms were doomed and that the Cold War was about to resume. In fact, once the tanks began to roll through the streets of Moscow, several politicians were already already willing to concede that the Soviets Soviets were about to be placed under now management. Instead, three days later, the hardliners hardliners were deposed and the U.S.S.R, began moving towards freedom and democratic principles at a speed uni- by Mei-Lin Stichbury Last week, we were horrified to discover that yet another abduction has resulted in tragedy. A female body discovered discovered dumped in a creek was identified as being that of Nina DeVilliers, the Burlington woman, reported missing for two weeks. Hers was the third murder-abduction in a span of only two months. First, there was Leslie Mahaffy, whose dismembered dismembered body was found encased encased in concrete. Then, there was three- year-old, Kayla Kladusz- abducted, sexually assaulted, assaulted, murdered and dumped in Toronto Harbour. Harbour. And every time an innocent innocent person dies at the hands of a homicidal lu natic, the public cries for capital punishment. It's a reflex - an instant instant reaction. And it's a justified one at that. It's a manifestation of human pain and anger and the devastating sense of loss and hopelessness hopelessness we feel for the future. But, it's not a logical reaction. It's the desire for revenge. We would all like to believe believe there is a means of preventing crime. But, for many reasons, I'm not convinced that capital punishment is it. Last year in university, university, I studied capital punishment. punishment. Here are some of the realities I discovered. discovered. One of the main justifications justifications for the death pen alty is that it is a deterrent deterrent to crime. Extensive studies have shown, however, that this is not the case. According to Statistics Canada, since capital punishment was abolished abolished in Canada in 1967, the homicide rates have declined, not increased, as one might have expected. expected. Another study in Ohio to determine a correlation correlation between the number of executions and the number of homicides, found murder rates remained remained constant regardless regardless of the number of capital capital executions. The same study in Queensland, Australia, concluded homicide rates actually rose as the number number of executions did. of the jobs of principal or viceprincipal viceprincipal by the year 2000. And the changes in education do not end there. If you visit a new school built in the last few years, you will note that they contain space for day care facilities as well as the traditional classrooms. In the future, all new schools (but not renovated school buildings) will have day care space inside. inside. Moreover, there are new ways of assessing assessing the effectiveness of the education education our students are getting. A system system of "benchmarks" is being established to describe the skill and information and concepts expected by most pupils in grades 3, 6 and 9. Using Using benchmarks, the Ministry will be able to strengthen and enrich programs. programs. It's interesting to also note that many of the people going back to school this fall will not be children or teens. A higher number of adults is returning returning to the classroom to upgrade their education. In fact, about eight per cent of regular, day school students students are adults. That's up from three per cent in the 1980's. And that statistic statistic reflects the fact that education is being seen as a lifelong process rather than something which ended in the late teens or early twenties. Judging from the examples cited here, it's easy to see that much is happening happening in today's schools. And some of the changes -- including a few of those cited above -- are controversial. Frankly, we've never understood why local educational issues do not attract attract the same amount of attention as issues having to do with the Durham Region or the Town of Newcastle. Both local government and local school boards have important work to do. Local government affects the quality quality of our fife, by the decisions it makes on topics such as development or municipal municipal facilities. School boards, on the other hand, have the task of training the minds of our children. Which is most important? And, if you want to merely look at the dollars and cents involved, consider consider this: Our school boards spend about 60 cents out of every dollar that we pay through our municipal tax bill. The remaining 40 cents is shared in almost equal proportions by the Durham Durham Region and the Town of Newcastle. Newcastle. Of course, this represents just the municipal tax dollar. The Ontario government government also contributes heavily towards towards education and the funds come from the provincial taxes we all pay. Since this is the start of another school year, it's appropriate that we resolve to devote a little more attention attention to the education of our kids and ourselves. Why not resolve, this year, to become become more knowledgeable about educational educational issues, to spend more time in your child's school, and to become more familiar with the staff at your local local school? Or, perhaps it's time for you to consider becoming a student yourself. Is there a new career you'd like to pursue? Or would you like to acquire that high school diploma or university degree? Perhaps this is the year to take action. To conclude, we quote a statement by Education Minister Marion Boyd. She noted that changes in the educational educational field are only effective if they include include input from everyone. She writes: "...Changes don't happen without without the views of parents, educators, representatives of business, and labor, those working for people with special needs and students themselves. Changes can only come about if the views of all these people are heard, and that means you. V Letter to the Editor Truck Causes Concern Dear Editor: I am writing as a concerned concerned resident, from Rutherford Rutherford Drive in Newcastle Village. For 2 years now, we have been angered by a gentleman gentleman who keeps parking his 18-wheeler truck on our street. At first, he would bring the truck with a full load and leave it there overnight. But, after we called the Township he stopped bringing bringing the trailer and started to park just the cab at home. It is still an obstruction on the road. You can't see children, nor can you see cars coming when you are trying to back out of your driveway. Not only that, it makes our street look junky, because now we have another gentleman gentleman parking his truck right in front of our new park on Edward Street. After we asked him to remove remove it, he started bringing it home every night, even on weekends!! To top is all off- he parks his trailer at a local local gas station, he also leaves his car there and brings his cab home!! Why can't he leave his whole truck at the gas station and bring his car home? I know that I am not the only one who feels this way. The neighbours and myself of Rutherford Drive would like to know what other measures can we take, to get this truck off of our street. We have called the police, but obviously he is not going to move it for them - even though he is breaking the 3- hour Bylaw. Please let us know if anything anything can be done, before someone gets hurt because they can't see around this truck. Yours sincerely Disturbed Citizen Ed's Note: We suggest you phone the Town's Bylaw Office at 623-3379 for information information on the rules that might apply. One explanation for this is that brutal punishments punishments accustom people to brutality. Capital punishment punishment actually creates the attitude that it is all right to kill. Which brings me to another another problem. Capital punishment maintains a sort of horrible horrible paradox. If the death penalty is used lavishly, people become become de-sensitized; killing killing becomes an everyday part of life and criminals are no longer deterred by it. However, if rarely used, it becomes an insignificant insignificant consequence in the minds of potential criminals. Furthermore, capital punishment may actually endanger society by preventing preventing convictions. When faced with the decision of sentencing someone to death, judges Skaters Seek Help to Offset Rising Costs Dear Sir or Madam, In recent months the Canadian Canadian Figure Skating Association Association has decided to allow skaters at the local and Provincial Provincial Level to obtain funding funding via donations and sponsorships. sponsorships. The fund would be established established under the directorship directorship of myself as Coach and administered by the Parent Committee of the involved skaters, members of the Bowmanville Skating Club. The purpose is to help offset offset the overall cost of maintaining maintaining skating, e.g. registration, registration, costumes, competition fees and equipment, equipment, and to encourage advancement advancement at various skating skating levels. Donations made will receive receive a business receipt from C.F.S.A. and sponsors will receive advertising in the form of your logo on sports bags ana clothing when provided. provided. Because figure skating is an individual sport it does not have the higher profile of other team sports and we • wish to encourage skaters of different levels to stay in the sport. Often skaters become Professional Coaches and work within their Home Club. As a Coach at the Bowmanville Bowmanville Skating Club for the past five years, I have encouraged my students to compete at local, Regional and Provincial competitions. These twelve skaters won 23 medals between them this past season, ten of which were gold. I am fortunate to have a group of highly motivated youngsters who range in age from six to sixteen years old and who want to be the best they can be. In the future figure skaters skaters will be seeking more and more financial support from local businesses due to the rising cost of equipment, ice time and coaching fees, all of which at present relies solely solely on the responsibility of the parents to finance. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me. Thank you for your time and consideration. Yours sincerely, Paul Smith. Professional Coach and juries may take pity on the suspected murderer murderer and acquit them. A University of Toronto Toronto study of 383 people who had ever served on a jury in a murder trial, revealed revealed 30 per cent would have been reluctant to convict if the death penalty penalty were imposed. Many people also claim that their tax dollars shouldn't go to waste keeping a murderer in prison. - What a lot of people don't realize is that it costs many times more to kill someone than it does to keep them in jail. For instance, because of the lengthy process of appeal at various court levels, it cost over $5 million million to put serial killer, Ted Bundy, to death in Florida. That's ten times what it would've cost to keep him in jail for life. What's more, the thought of capital punishment punishment often doesn't scare a lot of potential criminals. criminals. Persons who are mentally mentally incompetent or under under the influence of alcohol alcohol or drugs, commit crimes in such a state of mind that they don't foresee foresee or care about the consequences. consequences. What society needs -- more than the death penalty penalty - is a revised justice system. We need a more thorough thorough and legitimate way of evaluating criminals. We need stiffer sentences sentences and an increased number of life sentences for murderers, rapists, etc. Murderers, rapists and molesters should never be eligible for parole or day passes. Chances are they'll only do it again. We also need to incorporate incorporate better compensation compensation and support systems! for the victims of crime. The law needs to show it values all human life.! Therefore, instead of seeking revenge, it should set its sights on justice and reform. Writer Finds More Information About How interesting it was to read the letter from Museum Museum Curator Charles Taws to Mr. James in last week's Statesman. A microfilm on early Bowmanville newspapers in the Bowmanville Library states that Alsay Fox was elected to the first town council of Bowmanville Bowmanville and donated £50 for parish purposes to the Anglican Church in Bowmanville. Both Thomas and Alsay Fox came from a suburb of London, England,...Shoreditch, from a family of twenty-two twenty-two children to make special bricks for the restoration restoration of St. James Cathedral in Toronto. Thomas R. Fox married Margaret Stark of Chicago in that Cathedral Cathedral in 1845. At that time the Starks were domiciled at the corner of Queen Street and Yonge Street in a house. Samuel John Fox exhibited his bricks and tiles in the Exhibition and won first prize. For the Liberal Conservative Party of Victoria West, Samuel John Fox served under Premier Hardy 1897-1900, in the Ninth Parliament of Ontario; in the Tenth, 1902-3-4 under Premier G. W. Ross; in the Eleventh Parliament from 1905-1908; under Premier J. P. Whitney in the Twelfth Parliament of Ontario from 1908-1911. On his passing on July 11, 1911, his body lay in state at St. Paul's Anglican Church on Russell Street in Lindsay. Thank you, Charles, for your interesting letter. Cordially yours, Donald D. Fox, Oshawa, Ont. ...... 51 .A,- r -- fi >.1V f->«i P.S. Above is a print of the Wagstaff home in Toronto, Toronto, mentioned in the third article. tr Pressing Matters In One Small Town by John E. James - ji maginable a few years or even a few weeks ago. And then there was the Middle East conflict. Evei^body assumed it would be a prolonged and costly struggle which would eventually solve many of the issues in the Middle East. Instead, it was (for the allies) a relatively relatively brief and decisive battle which doesn't appear to have solved much of anything. Events that have been happening in the past year have managed to defy the predictions of the pundits and the experts. These seem to be very important days and weeks in the course of human human history. And it's possible to give only one piece of advice for those who are watching the events unfold: Expect Expect the unexpected. Ten years ago this week. Family James showed up in Amity ville, totally totally convinced that sinking every last penny into The Amityville Bugle was a master stroke of investment strategy. It took six weeks for reality to sink in, three years for the economy to climb out of the hole created by the 81 Recession, five years for Ontario's Liberals Liberals to bury it again, one year to sell The Bugle, and one year (so far) to convince us fishing isn't fun. Do we miss 'The Business'? You have to be kidding. We miss hanging out with the people people who worked with us, but them what matter still stay in touch. Ask anybody still in business; we were lucky to get out. Not much else remains of "The Old Days" at The Bugle, Bugle, or for that matter, at any other business in this province. Dave Peterson's Peterson's Liberals brought business to its knees, and Bob Rae's New Democrats are in the process of interring the remnants, remnants, You don't have to be nuts to start a business in Ontario today, The government government will take care of that along the way, Some week, huh? No matter how hard we try, it's tough to believe the worst is over for citizens in the U.S.S.R. Boris Yeltsin may be the genuine thing. There's little doubt he saved Mikhail Mikhail Gorbachev's bacon. He single- handedly defeated the coup. There's also little doubt Boris played the scenario scenario for every penny of power and influence. influence. Gorbachev deserves credit for what has been accomplished to date. In terms of the amazing turnabout in relationships relationships with the rest of the world, he alone is responsible. During the televised appearance of the two men after things calmed down, Boris didn't strike us as overcome with relief and gratitude that Gorbachev was safe, or able to continue the mission. mission. He looked more like a scavenger who had come to pick over the carcass. A little voice from deep inside keeps saying: "This man is a pig." Let's hope the voice is wrong. Has it occurred to anyone watching events in the U.S.S.R.; there's a certain certain irony in terms of what's going on at home? Millions of people are rushing to denounce denounce Communism, eager to embrace the principles of Capitalism. That philosophy philosophy has given us a standard of living living which is the envy of the entire world. So, how come Ontario is ripping the guts out of that same system? Speaking of 'The Great American Way of Life', perhaps a moment could be spent on...baseball? The Detroit Tigers, subject of much derisive comment following defeats at the hands of Toronto's Blue Jays in two recent series, appear to be tied for FIRST PLACE with same after the weekend. Oh dear. It should be noted however, the Tigers Tigers are off on an eight game road trip to the west coast. They may have lost the services of ace reliever Mike Henneman for some time. This could be a long couple of weeks for those tired old Kitty Cats, so we'll savour the moment. All you Blue Jay fans shouldn't panic. panic. A scratchy feeling in the throat area will suffice. Here's a human interest story for Jay fans in central Ontario, The venerable Tiger radio announcer announcer Ernie Howell is 'retiring* (not his idea) at the end of the year, and the story received a lot of press earlier in the season. Almost unnoticed this year is the long term Tiger telecast crew of George Kell and A1 Kaline, exceptional players from long gone days who became became close friends in later years, Their abilities as commentators have occasionally caused a mutter or two, but we'll take 'em over Jays broadcasters. They make some blun ders, but love (and know) the game. It simply isn't the same when George and A1 don't work together. Kell is more the professional, and handles play by play. Kaline provides colour commentary, intentionally or otherwise, some days you'd swear he's still in uniform. Both are genuinely classy guys in the old fashioned way. It has been a terrible year for George, a strong family man who commutes commutes from Arkansas to do the games.- His wife Charlene was stricken by cancer a few months ago, and as the illness grew worse he missed most of the last two months' telecasts to be) with her. - A couple of weeks back George re-.' turned for one telecast, and it was a; gem. This was the night Tony Phillips- hit a game winning home with two out in the bottom of the ninth. In the back- ground, you could hear the aging Ka- line jump to his feet and snout; "YESSSSÜ!" as Kell calmly talked the ball over the fence. Maybe you had to be there, but that dear friends, is Tiger baseball. It's something the '91 Jays don't have, and can't buy. Sooner or later it might surface surface with the Jays, but not this year. Charlene Kell passed away a few days ago. Nobody knows when - or whether - George will feel up to coming coming back.