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L PAGE A6 ♦ THE CANADIAN STATESMAN ♦ August 16,2006 Tim Whittaker Publisher Joanne Burghardt Editor-In-Chief Chris Bovie Managing Editor Fred Eismont Director of Advertising Eddie Kolodziejcak Classified Advertising Manager Kirk Bailey Distribution Manager Lillian Hook Office Manager Janice O'Neil, Cheryl Haines Composing Managers Todd Blayone Interactive Media Manager Clarington's Award-Winning Newspaper Since 1854 ®f)t Canadian Statesman Opinion | AUGUST 16, 2006 durtiamregion.com Phone 905-579-4400 Classifieds 905-576-9335 Distribution 905-579-4407 General Fax 905-579-2238 Newsroom Fax 905-579-1809 E-Mail newsroom@durhamregion.com 865 Farewell St., Oshawa ON L1H 7L5 Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 infodurhamregion.com EDITORIAL c-mail letters to ncwsroom@durhamrcgion.com Camaro should be built right here All hail the return of the muscle car. General Motors made it official last week when it announced that the auto giant would be resurrecting resurrecting the late, great Camaro for production in 2008-2009. The Camaro, a mega-horsc- power, rear-wheel drive, two- door sports beast, is expected to appeal to those car drivers looking looking for a little excitement. If you want, to get a sneak peak at what we can expect, go to www.gmcanada.com, click on Chevrolet and then click Camaro Concept. There is a nice little website show offering you a good look at the specs and style of the car. The key thing in these parts is that the new GM flex plant be built right here in Durham at the Oshawa autoplex. And with plenty of co-operation co-operation from Local 222 CAW members members in the way of adjustments to the contract Signed just last fall which will help GM save money, Oshawa is the place best-suited to build the Camaro. In addition, Regional government government here kicked in by making sure GM would save on tax payments. payments. Instead of having to pay mil-' lions in large industrial taxes through the 2009 tax year, the Region has eliminated large industrial bracket as of 2007. General Motors has been able to count on its Oshawa plants for years. With a raft of J.D. Power and Harbour awards for quality and productivity, there is simply no denying that GM Oshawa workers workers are No. 1 in North America. With cost and quality advantages advantages in abundance, there is no logical business case to build the ' Camaro anywhere else. The GM flex plant, should the Camaro be built here, will combine combine the operations of car plants No. 1 and No. 2 by producing a Zeta platform which will enable workers to adjust and build different different models of cars depending upon market demand. As a result, the flex plant would keep thousands of workers busy for many years to come. There is plenty of competition to land the flex plant and Camaro production. But when the announcement over where the car will be built is finally made this fall, let's hope GM executives realize they have a winner right here in Durham Region. BACKWARD GLANCE Train derailment, 1899 i-- v tù&ÉjËk lip » - ' v > • . ■ . ■ ; • ■ 1 .AT M MADE SENSED AMAUaMÀHE - >'■ ' LETTERS TO THE EDITOR c-mail letters to newsroom@durhamregion.com Photo supplied by the Clarington Museum and Archives A passenger train partially derailed just west of the Grand Trunk Railway station, Bowmanville, in June 1899. (The station was demolished in 1981; the line is now operated by Canadian National.) Who benefits from gas price hikes? To the editor: In the mid-seventies my husband husband and his dad had a dealership in Oshawa on Nonquon Road selling AMC products. They also sold gas. The rule of thumb back then was that you could not raise your. gas prices until your present supply supply was exhausted. My query is this: a company has its tanks filled to supply the public. It has paid the amount required by its supplier. Its gas prices increase five cents a litre within the time span of the fillup by the supplier. The price increase is passed on to the consumer. How is this justified justified and who is making the five cents a litre? Carol Wellman Orono Bio-solo bags no longer acceptable To the editor: Re: It's so easy to get bio-solo bags, E. and D. Gareau, letter, Aug. 4. I am not surprised the Gareaus • had no problems purchasing bio-solo bags. I have used them myself for several years. . Unfortunately, according to a recent article in your newspaper, they are no longer acceptable. We must now use Biosak, Bio-. Bag, Bag to Earth paper bags or Wal-Mart's Great Value. It's the ones that we are supposed to use that are hard to find. Helen Campbell Enniskillen Cartoon shocking To the editor: Re: Editorial cartoon, August 9. I was deeply shocked at seeing seeing the cartoon depicting Prime Minister Stephen Harper being choked and strangled by a Jewish Jewish star. To see this type of hate- provoking image in my local Bowmanville paper both deeply offended and saddened me. Last I checked, we lived in a pluralistic pluralistic society which has established hate laws to protect ajl of us from this type of offence. Korcn Kassirer Bowmanville Sensitive tests come up with false positives To the editor: Re: Everyday heroes: Those who give blood, editorial, Aug. 4; False .positive means no more blood donations, Jackie Johnston Johnston letter, Aug. 10. Dedicated Canadians -- as your reader clearly is -- that take time out of their busy schedules to donate blood for others, are disappointed and heart-broken when they receive a "false-positive" "false-positive" deferral after donating at their local blood donor clinics. As this is a difficult deferral deferral to understand, please allow me to explain a little further. False positive test results such as your reader's are not due to errors made by laboratory technologists technologists or machines. They are in fact inherent functions of the very sensitive tests we use to screen blood donors. The tests are designed to be so sensitive as not to miss anyone who is truly positive, even if the person has tiny amounts of evidence of infection. However, because the tests are so sensitive, in some cases they react non-spccifically with proteins proteins in people's blood and the result comes up "reactive" (positive). (positive). , When we then confirm the test using a different, more specific assay that has different sensitivity sensitivity levels, it will not confirm positive and that is what we refer to as a "false positive." Canadian Blood Services is looking at introducing re-entry protocols that would permit us to re-test donors - if we can' prove that such a result is.indccd negative, we would re-enter that donor. This process is complex and requires approval of "our regulator, regulator, Health Canada, but we are beginning to develop the necessary necessary evidence to request such an approval of practice from the Regulator. One of the reasons we believe this is important is precisely precisely because Canadian Blood Services regards every donor lost as a serious loss and we do not take this lightly. The circumstances surrounding surrounding bone marrow transplants are different than those surrounding blood transfusions. If you are interested, you could register to become a potential bone marrow donor. No transmissible disease testing takes place at the time an individual joins the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry. However, individuals who are matched to patients and asked to proceed with a bone marrow donation take part in a thorough workup process, including physical physical examination and transmissible transmissible disease testing. This workup process takes place each time a bone marrow donation is made. For these reasons, your reader's "false-positive" test would not affect the possibility of becoming a potential bone marrow donor. My hope is for your reader to re-engage themselves into the blood program through our Bone Marrow Program .by calling 1- 888-2-DONATE. Renee Naiman Regional Director Canadian Blood Services / Toronto LETTERS We welcome letters thatinclude name, city of residence and phone numbers for verification. Writers are generally limited to 200 words and one submission submission in 30 days. We decline announcements, poetry, open letters, consumer complaints, congratulations and thank you notes. The editor reserves the right to edit copy for length, style and clarity. The newspaper newspaper contacts only those people people whose submissions have been chosen ' for publication. FAX: 905-579-1809; E-MAIL: Newsroom ©durhamregion. com. Fun now hinges on lotions, sprays I'm more than a .little embarrassed embarrassed to admit this and I'm likely likely going to have to dodge some tomatoes after this is printed, but my kids have tans. Not dark tans. Not really, really noticeable tans. And they've never even been slightly pink with sunburn. But it's very clear, when they arc getting ready for their bath, that there are sonic areas of their little bodies that are a shade darker than others. This makes me feel like a bad mom, a complete failure. I feel this way even though I know that I, my husband, their babysitter babysitter and anyone else who has had them in their care this sum- Jennifer Stone mer, has been very conscientious conscientious in applying what seems like ridiculously high SPF sunscreen before they go outside. Then it is reapplied regularly, maybe even more frequently than is strictly necessary. My kids are generally inside during the heavy-duty sun hours too, since that's nap time, most days, It's not like they've been outside at noon, basted in baby oil. But tanned they are, no question. question. With pale being the new tan, that's just not cool. Just as the sun starts to go down and sunscreen is no longer an issue, another new summer threat comes along - the dreaded mosquito. Just last week, the Region of Durham announced the first batch of mosquitoes to test positive for West Nile virus. There have been no reported human cases in the Province as yet, but still, the Region is urging residents lo lake precautions to minimize the risk of mosquito bites. That includes avoiding high mosquito' populations, populations, using repellent containing DEBT, wearing light-coloured clothing and getting rid of stagnant stagnant water around the outside of the home to help eliminate . breeding sites. It used to he that having a Ian and ui lew mosquito bites was just the mark of a good summer, a sign of a healthy child who got lots of outside time during the warm weather months. I remember vividly, nostalgically nostalgically even, those nights in my childhood when my family was camping, I went lo off to bed, CLICK AND SAY Today's question: Do you believe Stephen Harper should have attended attended the AIDS conference in Toronto? Yes No Cast your vote online at infodurhamregion.com Last week's question: Do you feel Canada is doing enough! to help victims of the AIDS pandemic? No 44.9% Yes 55.1% Votes cast: 176 HAVE YOUR SAY Are you afraid to fly after hearing about the failed terrorist terrorist air bomb plot? slightly warm with sunburn, slightly itchy from mosquito bites. Those arc good memories. It's a different world out.there these days and summer seems to require a lot more lotions and potions and sprays to get through. It seems so strange, such a chore to me, to have to work so hard lo ensure safety against what we used to think of as such innocuous innocuous parts of summer. But, it's the new normal and I guess my kids won't ever know anything different. different. Reporter Jennifer Stone s column appears every other Wednesday. E-mail jstone@durhamregion. com. Jan Van Hoof "I'll still fly. There've been threats for years, bùt they've gone overboard." Ken Marker "It gives everybody cause to think. I'll still fly. You can't stop life." A Roy Ebenreth "If I were to fly now, I wouldn't fly on any American airlines. But I'm not afraid to fly." Janice Boudreau "I still enjoy flying." The Canadian Statesman is one of the Metrolànd Printing, Publishing and Distributing group of newspapers. The Statesman is a member of the Bowmanville Clarington Board of Trade, the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, Commerce, Ontario Community Newspaper Assoc., Canadian Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc.* Canadian Circulations Circulations Audit Board and the Ontario Press Council. The publisher reserves the right to classify or refuse any advertisement. Credit for advertisement advertisement limited to space price error occupies. Editorial and Advertising content of the Canadian Statesman is copyrighted. Unauthorized reproduction reproduction is prohibited. looTVnNNfK A°cnaH]E. (*cna g*