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

» 4 The Canadian Statesman. Bimmanullc Wednesday, May 15. 19% ®je Caimbimi Statesman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climie and W. R. Climie 1854 -1878 M. A. James, 1878 - 1935 • Norman S. B. James, 1919 -1929 G. Elena James, 1929 - 1947 • Dr. George W. James, 1919 -1957 Produced weekly by James Publishing Company Limited P.O. Box 190, 62 King St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 905-623-3303 Internet - statesman@ocna.org Fax 905-623-6161 For 142 Years, Our First Concern Has Been Our Community Publisher - John M. James Assoc. Publisher - Richard A. James Plant Manager - Donald J. Bishop Ad. Manager - Brian G. Purdy Editor - Peter Parrott Production Rick Patterson, Laurens Kaldcivay, Doug Lugtenburg, Sharon McMullen, Barb Patterson, Ralph Rozema, Jim Snook, Vance Sutherland, Jim Tuuramo Advertising Editorial Frank Kelly, Lavcrnc Morrison Brad Kelly Lorraine Manfredo, Laura J. Richards Office Angela Luscher, Debbie Chamberlain, Junia Hodge, Grace McGregor, Nancy Pleasancc-Sturman, Marilyn Rutherford lime to Overlook Petty Crimes? Let's suppose you return home one evening to find your house has been ransacked and valuables are stolen. A few weeks or months later, you learn from police that suspects have been apprehended. apprehended. But they won't be prosecuted because of a new government policy in which more serious crimes get top priority. Petty crimes -- at least those where there isn't a guarantee of conviction -- won't be prosecuted. This scenario may sound far-fetched. But, it could happen under a proposal from the Ontario government in which cases such as residential break-ins, fraud, mischief, business theft and embezzlement will only be prosecuted if there is a virtual certainty of conviction. Presumably, thieves involved in minor crimes where there is difficulty in successful successful prosecution will be off the hook. This proposal is not yet government policy. Some have branded the concept as nothing nothing but a rumor. But. it's hard to imagine that the provincial government would even consider the idea. The reason behind the scheme is, by now, all too familiar. It's a matter of saving money. But declining to prosecute some petty crimes, officials arc hoping the cost savings savings can go towards about $60 million which must be cut from the Ministry of tire Attorney-General's budget. Presumably, the Ministry would then be able to concentrate on serious crimes such as crimes ol violence. But, it seems to us that the government is making a mockery of the judicial system if it sends out tire message dial certain "minor" crimes won't go to trial unless the prosecutor prosecutor has an almost guaranteed chance of conviction. Such an altitude overlooks the value of deterrence. It's a relatively safe bet that the reason crimes such as residential break-ins and shoplifting are not more widespread is the fact that such actions have consequences of arrests, lengthy court cases, and possible possible jail terms, fines or probation upon conviction. Even if a conviction is not registered, the process of being arrested and prosecuted should slow down some criminals or would-be-criminals. If the government declares to the public that it will overlook a wide category of cases, it doesn't take a degree in criminology to conclude that there will be an increase in petty crimes. And, with more people breaking into shops or homes, it's only a matter matter of time before some of these incidents lead to major crimes. It also seems to us that police and prosecutors already monitor arrests to ensure that those cases where there isn't a likelihood of conviction don't proceed to court. It wouldn't be a stretch of logic to suggest that the new policy now under discussion will create two classes of taxpayer. Those who have the money will invest in private security guards and alarm systems. Everyone else will have to take their chances on a system which doesn't always consider consider break-ins, fraud, business theft, mischief and embezzlement worthy of prosecution. prosecution. One critic described the procedure as "a green light for thieves." Can this idea possibly have come from the political party which promised to crack down on crime and restore law and order?; \.-f?. ■);; Exacily how far' must we cut public services in order to trim government debt? Treatment of Nunziata Criticized by Reader News item: amorous couple in SkyDome hotel room give a side show during baseball game Tax Cut Called "Misleading" The following is a copy of a letter sent to MP Alex Shepherd. Dear Sir: I have been a voter and resident resident of your constituency since 1974. On behalf of myself and my family, I wish to protest, in the strongest terms possible, the shabby treatment of Mr. Nunziata, M.P., by your leader and your support of that treatment, treatment, Mr. Nunziata has been cast aside because he refused to go along with breaking one of your party's most prominent election promises, the scrapping scrapping of the Goods and Services Tax. During the election campaign, campaign, we watched continuously continuously as Mr. Chretien waved his infamous red book about, screaming "We have a plan!" Included in the plan was the elimination of the GST, although Mr Chretien never told anyone what it was, exactly, exactly, that he planned as a replacement. replacement. He told us to elect his party and then wait to sec what the replacement was. Now, we know! There never was any plan to scrap the GST. This was obvious when Mr. Paul Martin told us that your government has coasidered 20 different options, in vain, since being elected. If the Liberal Party really had any plan (as it claimed during the election) to dispense with the GST, there would have been no need to consider 20 options, once elected. elected. "Tell 'em anything you want and worry about it later!" would be an appropriate motto for your party. In fact, you and your leader were quite prepared to go to the people and promise them anything anything at all to gel elected and worry about keeping or breaking breaking the promises afterward. You will not dupe the people people of this riding again. It is, historically, comprised of very conservative people. They will not forget and they will be revolted by Mr. Martin's explanation explanation that the Liberal plan to eliminate the GST was an, "Hones: mistake." Politicians, generally, are held in very !>«» rogird ,*ow 1 Ins latest anemic n m . ,>nv eminent to once again hoodwink hoodwink the taxcd-to-dcath public has done nothing whatsoever to allay this cynicism and it will be the cause of your government's government's demise. In fact, a government government in your position, with members claiming to possess even a modicum of dignity, would call an election now. Your Deputy P.M., Ms. Copps, is a moral coward. She gave her solemn word that she would resign if the GST was not scrapped by her government. government. I will sent her a letter, too. Mr. Nunziata walks away tr from the Liberal party with his integrity fully intact, as does Mr. Dennis Mills, M.P. You and your back>-stabbing friends cannot make the same claim. I will congratulate these fine gentlemen of principle. To the rest of the members of the Liberal party, I can only say that cowards move about in crowds; the brave walk in single single file. Yours truly, Larry Wood EDITOR'S NOTE - The GST fiasco isn't going to go away, is it? Dear Editor, The Conservatives down at Queen's Park are telling everyone everyone how good their budget is. What they should be asking is: How will this budget affect real people? I am tempted to go line by line through the budget speech and show you where all the inconsistencies^:.aind misrepresentations misrepresentations are, but then you wouldn't give me the space to do it. The main item I want to point out is that Mike Harris was plain wrong when he said the tax cut would pay for itself. The budget's own numbers show the tax cut will cost $1.2 billion this year and will rise to an annual cost of nearly $5 billion billion by the time it is fully implemented. There is no evidence evidence whatsoever that this tremendous cost will create any significant number of jobs. People also shouldn't be misled by the "new" funding announcements either. Look first at education. They took almost $430 million out of post secondary education and boosted boosted tuition 20% for universities and 15% for colleges. Now, they announce a trust program that may return $100 million of that - and they call it "reinvestment". "reinvestment". The Tories took $432 million million out of elementary and secondary secondary schools and now are putting back $20 million to buy computers that requires a matching investment from cash-strapped school boards. An investment in technology does not address the fact that 10,000 lay-off notices have been issued to teachers in the elementary and secondary sector. sector. They also took.$1.78 billion out of the hospital sector and reallocated only a small piece of that. They slashed highway capital capital by $540 million - and now they have announced $40 million million in the north and $100 million million in the south of the province. This budget provides no information about the cuts that will be needed to pay for the. tax cut in future years. Both the Bank of Montreal and Dominion Bond Rating have stated that, the government has overstated its revenue projections projections for the long term and will be unable to balance the budget by the year 2000 without deep er spending cuts. Finally, more than half the benefits of the tax cut will go to only the top 10% of taxpayers, and the rest of us will find our tax break eaten up by new user fees, including higher municipal municipal taxes and other costs. It's all a shell game and a sham. Cord Mills EDITOR'S NOTE - The budget budget Is certainly a big gamble for the provincial government. government. Letter to the Editor Changes Necessary The following is an excerpt from a letter addressed to Durham East MPP John O'Toole: Dear Sir: It isn't easy for me to write this letter, but my feeling is that it is necessary. As an "80-year-old", I recently had to take my drivers' test. I feel this trip around the city of Oshawa is a good thing. But I also feel very strongly it should be treated as a lesson, not a test. As a lesson, seniors would welcome it, they would be relaxed and glad to listen and absorb. I am satisfied the majority of these people would be ready to accept their recommendations. recommendations. Because, after all, they did not reach 80 with a good driving record by continually continually breaking the rules. At a test, you have someone sitting beside you, much your junior, judging your every move, with their pencil and pad in hand. This, to me as a senior, is demeaning. While I was waiting to be called, several of the seniors came back from their test. None of them had passed and they looked devastated. Putting older people through this is nerve-racking and cruel, and should be stopped. Yours truly, Arthur E. Hamilton. EDITOR'S NOTE - The test is discriminatory. Either it should be required of all drivers drivers or stopped altogether. It now seems as though the provincial government will replace the mandatory testing testing with a group education program and questionnaire. This seems to be the kind of approach that you're suggesting suggesting in your letter. by Rick James "Finally, Our Photos are Fixed" After several weeks of research and development, development, experimentation, and "shooting "shooting in the dark," we finally have a handle on why the photos in The Statesman have been brutal lately. You should notice a major difference in this week's photos. Technology changes almost hourly in this industry and you have to keep up with the latest gadgetry But, the stuff is so new and the race is so competitive for manufacturers manufacturers to get products into the market, the equipment never gets tested under working conditions. There arc also as many different theories about how to use the technology as there arc people trying to figure it out. I've spoken to three different different self-proclaimed experts about the new system. Each of them says the other two don't know what they're talking about. All that tells me is that the system is so new, nobody has been able to acquire enough experience to establish a standard procedure. procedure. You may recall that I wrote about'» nifty electronic camera we purchased less than six nmnihs ago It requites no film, no chemicals and the nteinoi y card is reusable. The concept is great, but that camera has already been replaced by another another device designed specifically for newspaper xx■ >fk None of ii is cheap, so liming is i .. ikn you decide to jump •n Hi. elei ironic bus. Unfortunately, by the time you drop your tokens in, the technology will have changed again. "How do Moms do It?" Since daughter Morgan arrived on the scene more than four years ago, followed by Miranda one year ago, life has changed dramatically for the James clan. For example, you can forget about us being on time for anything. Either everything everything goes perfectly and we're an hour early (very rare) or we receive a visit from Mr. Murphy whose Law says everything must go wrong and you must be an hour late. Over the last few weeks, Murphy's Law seems to have been enforced more often as R.N. Kim works a variety of day and night shifts at Oshawa General Hospital. The change was caused by the funding cutbacks. cutbacks. Normally, she only works evenings which meant Daddy only had to worry about getting the kids led, bathed and into bed. But now, my job description has been altered to include the morning wake-up call, dressing them in something that matches, making some form of edible breakfast and gelling everybody to the babysitter in time for me to go to work. It may not sound like much, but when there's a deadline attached to it, it's difficult difficult to get a one-year-old to understand the concept of "Hurry up, we gotta go," This morning's highlights included Miranda covering herself in yogurt and Morgan alerting me that I was burning the only piece of bread we had in the house. I capped off the morning by exploding two eggs in the microwave. What a mess! Mind you, the slop the over-nuked eggs made was much easier to clean than the time I tried to warm a bottle of Vick's Vapo-Rub in the microwave. Boy, was that stupid! After conceding that one-year-old might still be a little young to expect a child to feed herself neatly, I had to step in and help Miranda finish breakfast. But, with our babysitter departure time closing in rapidly, I was going to have to feed her quickly. That's means we need some distractions, distractions, like a toy or T.V., to keep her eyes and hands busy and her mouth open. I guess I probably look the exercise a bit too far though when her mouth was so full she started to gag. Now, I have to become become defensive, as the food that just went in is going to be launched in my lap. Time to change strategy again. How about a blueberry muffin? She could cal that on her own while I concentrate on getting getting Morgan to finish her breakfast how that "Sailor Moon" is on T.V. After a lengthy debate with a four-year- old about the merits of eating breakfast versus watching television, "Sailor Moon" became a victim of the remote control's OFF button, just in time for me to find Miranda grinding blueberries into her hair and face. Now, I really need some help to clean her up and meet our deadline. "Maverick, go to work pup, start licking." A few dog tongue lashes lashes later, and presto...one clean kid. It's 7:30 and Mommy will be home any minute. Despite the chaos of the morning, there's no way, she can find out that Daddy can't cope. A quick cleaning of the dishes and she'll never know. "Hi guys, I'm home, how'd it go?" "Fine," I responded. "Everybody's ready." "They've been fed?" "Yup." "Washed?" "Yup. Even washed the dishes." "I'm impressed." Feeling confident that I'd made it, I thought I'd go for the jugular and say, "I don't know what you're whining about. It's not that tough gelling the kids ready each morning. It's a piece of cake!" With the words still leaving my sarcastic sarcastic mouth, Morgan piped up with, "Mom, you should have seen the eggs explode!" And as the Mommy death stare turned and focussed on me, I realized that besides being very good at getting everyone ready in the morning, Mommys also excel at knowing when Daddys are lying.