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Wednesday, December 2,1992 We Asked and You Said 2 A Page from the Past 3 Community Correspondence 7-10 Chief Inspector Robert Watson (right), is the officer in charge of -'the new RCMP detachment coming to Bowmanville next year. Detachment Detachment staff assigned to the new division arc currently working out of Toronto, but will take up new offices at Baseline Rd. once construction construction of the building is completed in July. Welcoming Inspector ■Watson to town is Dr. Joe Pinto, president of the Bowmanville Rotary Rotary Club. High Cost of Living is One Reason for ROMP Headquarters in Town by Lorraine Manfredo Canada's fearless mounties don't run from much - except maybe the high cost of living in Toronto. Like so many other disillusioned Torontonians, RCMP personnel have been abandoning their high- priced mortgages in the big city and flocking to smaller, more affordable communities such as Courtice and Port Hope. This exodus of staff from Metro's Metro's core was the central reason behind behind the RCMP decision to disband. ' its downtown Toronto headquarters and set up four new detachments in outlying regions of the Greater Toronto Toronto Area. According to the chief inspector assigned to the new Bowmanville Detachment, some of the force's younger members were commuting up to four hours daily. "It became almost a crisis situation," situation," explained Chief Inspector Robert Watson during a visit to the Bowmanville Rotary Club last Thursday. New detachments are being built in Bowmanville, Milton, and Newmarket, Newmarket, and a new administration centre has already been set up in London. Once construction is completed in July, the local office building at Baseline and Highway #57 will accommodate accommodate 65 staff members. The jurisdictional boundaries of the Bowmanville detachment extend, from Victoria Park Rd. in Scarborough Scarborough to the eastern Durham Region boundary, and north from Lake Ontario Ontario to Lake Simcoe. Inspector Watson and his team will enforce over 180 Federal Acts, as well as investigate passport and immigration fraud, illegal drug smuggling, customs and excise matters, matters, and commercial crime. More than a third of the staff will be assigned to drug enforcement. The drug unit will concentrate on upper and middle level distributors. The customs and excise unit will 'deal with thé" uppef cch'clon's of iire-' gal tobacco and liquor operations, "Just last week we made two seizures,"- seizures,"- the inspector said. "We seized 1.8 tons of tobacco and another another seizure of 5 tons. Together their combined worth would have been roughly $5 million on the street. There is almost as much profit profit to be made trafficking in illegal tobacco, and less risk, than there is to be gotten from illegal drugs." The RCMP commercial crime unit will investigate all forms of white collar crime from counterfeiting counterfeiting to tax evasion to fraud. An immigration and passport unit will build cases against smugglers of illegal aliens. "We feci that by shutting down the upper and middle level we will be shutting down the entire problem," he said. Dr. Joe Pinto, president of the the Bowmanville Rotary Club, extended a warm welcome to Inspector Watson Watson and his staff on behalf of the local local Rotary Club membership. by Coby Veehstra "He shoots! He scores!" No, this was not a sportscast for an NHL game. It was the informal opening evening evening of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Durham Christian High. Two hockey games were played in Darlington Arena. The first was Durham's Durham's present team versus Durham alumni. The second was a competition between alumni players. The stands were well filled with present students, alumni, relatives, and school supporters, who were the spectators for the event. However, "spectators" might not be such an exact description, as it is assumed that spectators actually watch what is going on. Attention to the actual games was eclipsed by the warm welcomes of past friends and classmates, many of whom hadn't seen each other at all, or only sporadically, sporadically, since graduation. Hugs, greetings and questions were exchanged. Wallets were pulled out to show snapshots of offspring not present, and chatter filled the air. Friday's celebration was a bit more formal. It was held in Durham's gym, with guests from the past remembering remembering "back then." As was the case with the hockey game, the speakers had to vie for attention attention with the conversations by those renewing acquaintance and "catching up" on the. details of the lives of classmates. Mark Ward and Duane Nieuwsma capably hosted this event, with stories of their own as well as introductions for speakers. Probably the hit of the evening was an impromptu re-enactment of Durham's Durham's annual camp-out. Everyone in the room, except perhaps grade nine students who are still anticipating their first camp-out, could relate to the "inside jokes" and allusions, judging judging from the snickers, howls, and affirming affirming exclamations. Even on stage, as the participants were called on to "volunteer" their services, old friendships were renewed renewed and it was moving to see years y fall away from former students -- now themselves parents -- as they huggedTormer classmates âfid"féàeh^;< ers. For a brief moment, they, became / kids again. /?-35^ i«i*(r-fc? 1 - ; A slide show reminded' old-time«*iL.y* arid infônhed more recent students of "how it was" in the days of the portables portables in the back yard of Kriox Christian Christian School. Relics and photos from that past could be found in the upstairs classrooms, classrooms, where each room represented a five-year span. Old gym suits brought squeals of disgust/delight. Pictures and other memorabilia memorabilia evoked stories and fond memories. Saturday afternoon was an Open House that allowed alumni to browse through these rooms and mingle with classmates. Some creative person had actually built a replica of those portables portables and an old picture of principal Ren Siebcnga was stuck in the window. window. That morning had included lively lively volleyball games, with present and past players playing together. Saturday evening was the highlight of the weekend, as friends of Durham gathered to praise God for his faithful ness these 25 years. Hundreds of voices voices were lifted in spirited and harmonious harmonious singing of praise to God. A choir of alumni and present members joined in that praise as well. Reverend Carl Tuyl, formerly of Whitby, who at one time was parent of Durham students as well as past board member, gave a devotional based on Psalm 78, specifically focusing focusing on the words "man eating the bread of angels." He spoke in his own typical pithy style of . the fact that God's faithfulness faithfulness in the endeavour which grew into Durham Christian High was such a great thing that it must never be taken for granted. "When God's mercies are forgotten," forgotten," he said, "man's thankfulness will be discarded. We will not make that mistake. We WILL tell our children." Reverend Tuyl's theme tied in beautifully with a number of things: One - the Ontario Christian School Teachers' Convention, whose theme was "To Tell our Children," referring specifically to God's goodness, and two, - to the theme of the anniversary celebration, made so very clear in the theme song, summed up in the refrain: 0, may all who come behind us, find us faithful, May the fire of our devotion light the way, May the footprints that we leave, Lead them to believe, And the lives we lead inspire them to obey. (from: "Find Us Faithful," by John Nohr) That is a tall order. It's a tall order always striven for, but not always reached. Awareness of that was sharpened sharpened by a litany that acknowledged the many good things about Durham, for which there is much gratitude to God, but also confessed failures and need for forgiveness and the sure knowledge that forgiveness was given. given. Two alumni, Janet Molcnaar- Lammers ('77) and Rob Snoek ('87) shared their thoughts on Durham. In often humourous remarks, Durham was recognized to be, not perfect, but a place where students were guided in the ways of the Lord and equipped for the life to which God called them. The evening and the weekend ended ended with Durham's favorite song, often sung at meetings, campfires and anywhere anywhere Durhamitcs gather: "Sing Alleluia Alleluia to the Lord." It was a fitting end to the days of celebrating God'.s goodness. Graduates of Durham Christian High School came from all points in Ontario and from as far away as British Columbia in Canada and from Iowa in the United States. It took organizers more than three months to dig up the addresses of old alumni. When Durham Christian High School was first established 25 years ago there were just 15 students enrolled. Early classes were held in circular wooden portables, five of which, were set up in the back yard of Knox Christian School. A model of one of the first classrooms is shown above. The new building building on Scugog Street was erected in 1977 and today its students number 130. Organizers estimate that 600 alumni attended the weekend reunion. Thursday, Nov. 26th was a special Awards Niglu at Branch 178 Royal Canadian Legion and to mark the occasion, the Zone Commander, Commander, Dave Durham of Port Perry and the Deputy Zone Commander, Commander, Betty Potter of Oshawa were present. The awards winners and two guests arc pictured above, front row, 1-r, Doreen Park, Executive Executive - Ways and Means; Comd. Durham, Irene Whitney, Exec. - Membership; Deputy Comd. Potter, President Jim Connell - Past - TV . Pres.; back row, Bill Cole, Exec, - Entertainment; Gloria Grant - Treasurer; Graham Brooks, Exec. - Bulletin; Art Brooks, Exec. - Poppy; Lync Puddistcr - 3rd Vice President; Alfred Millson, Exec. - Youth; Seth Hunt, 2nd Vice Pres.; Emerson Jones, Exec. - Sports; Padre Rev. Doug Hall - Chaplain. In addition to the medals and bars presented, Bruce Tennant received his 40 year pin, Don Bishop, his 20 year pin and John Greenfield, his 10 year gin. Late Saturday afternoon, the downstairs lounge at Branch 178 Royal Canadian Legion was packed with participants participants all set to enjoy a Meat Draw, with winners receiving receiving roasts of beef similar to the one shown in this photo. photo. Conducting the event were John Donaldson of,the. Men's Dart League, left, and President Jim Connell.