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2 - Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, May 8, 2002 ORONO Weekly Times Serving East Clarington and beyond since 1 937 \ Subscriptions $28.04 + $1.96 G.S.T. = $30.00/year Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 Agreement No. 40012366 Publishing 50 Issues Annually at the Office of Publication "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs." 5310 Main Street, P.O. Box 209, Orono, Ontario LOB 1M0 E-Mail Address: oronotimes@speediine.ca Phone/Fax (905) 983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart (*CNA The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Orono Weekly Times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. Flag issues of our own As the discussion continues as to whether flags should be said to be flying at 'half mast' or 'half staff when they have been lowered as a sign of mourning, we in Clarington have flag lowering issues all our own. While it appears that flags have been raised and lowered lowered at the appropriate times over the years, there hàs never been an official municipal policy on when those occasions should be. Councillor Charlie Trim stated on Monday that he was offended when flags were not lowered on two occasions recently -- the Queen Mother's death, and the passing of the four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. These incidents incidents led him to recommend that a chain of command be established in dealing with the raising and lowering of flags on municipal property. This motion also recommended that staff check all the flagpoles in their jurisdiction to make sure they are operable. operable. There-in lies the problem. Councillor Trim has every right to be offended when flags and particularly those at our cenotaphs i.e. Orono and Newtonville, are flying full mast when the country is mourning four dead soldiers. It is not that someone forgot to lower the flags in these two locations, the problem is that these two flagpoles (and there could be others in the municipality) have no mechanism mechanism for raising and lowering the flags. These flags are fastened to the top of the pole. With the proper hardware in place, the forces that be would ensure that the flags are lowered and raised at the appropriate times. As to whether the flags are flying 'half mast' or 'half staff;' the official wording used by the Canadian Parliament is 'half mast.' From Around Home by Roy Forrester^ A phone call from Kelly McDonnell down Pollard Road way had Don Lycett and I out on the search Friday afternoon for another rare species. This week it was a report of a sighting of a Glossy Egret in the south marshes in the eastern end of Port Hope. Believe me it was a bitter cold walk along the lakefront trail with a stiff breeze. As to its appearance in Ontario it is somewhat like the Cattle Egret of a week prior. The Ibis is a casual wanderer from the southeastern southeastern States, stated Jim Richards in his book. Somewhat larger than the Egret, it is a deep reddish reddish colour with a long curved bill which it passes through the marsh waters for food. We were not successful in making any visual contact contact with the bird which surely had been present. I am sure that both of us did enjoy the outing for the area is very interesting and has been in place for many years. You do have the lake immediately to the south and the marsh area to the north. It is well termed a lakefront trail. There was a small selection selection of ducks and sparrows and fly catchers. Most interesting of all was a female Cardinal and a White Throated Sparrow both of whom kept just ahead of us on the trail for at least a half kilometre. They showed no concern with our presence. Also of interest was a long single- file flight of Double Crested Cormorants passing from east to west. Coming out of the trail we sighted a Chipmunk some fifteen to twenty feet at the top of a young tree which was just budding out. No doubt it was after greens which would have been missing from its diet in the past months. This brings up another somewhat similar incident at which I have some knowledge. Some three weeks ago I started up the annual production production line in the basement producing, I always hope, our flowers to transplant but later this month in the flower gardens. Germination was going along just fine with a good number of seeds sprouting and developing their second line of leaves. At this time I started to notice on the a.m. inspection inspection that some of the young leaves were missing, leaving only the stem protruding from the soil. I noticed the presence of Lady Bugs but was told during during the morning coffee break by Bill Bunting that Lady Bugs only ate aphids. It wasn't any more than a day or two later that I read in the Star that there was to be a big surge in the mouse population this year. "Perhaps it's mice," I thought. The young leaves could possibly be a great treat at this time of year. Down to Morrisons Hardware for a couple of mouse traps and a bit of cheese out of the fridge. I was about to see if by any chance mice were the culprits culprits and I couldn't wait much longer because too much of my production were losing those baby leaves. One trap was baited and placed alongside a nine- hole section of young Pansies with their young juicy tender baby leaves. The theory was, if it is mice, they will go for the cheese rather than the young leaves and thus my problem is solved. Of course with this going on in the basement, the first thing in the morning was to inspect the plants. The mouse relished his salad first for four plants had lost their leaves before the mouse tried the cheese. Come to think of it a green salad is always on the table before I turn to the main dish. Be it Chipmunk, Mouse or Man, life has its similarities. similarities. Miyor dédies when flip ire liwirti Each councillor will soon be responsible for making sure municipal flags flying in their wards are lowered at the appropriate time. Since the Municipality had no existing policy on flag lowering, Councillor Charlie Trim put forward a motion at Monday's General Purpose and Administration Committee meeting that could rectify the situation. Trim stated, "I think it is time we have a policy proclaiming when we lower and raise flags," stated Trim. Trim's motion, which was approved by all councillors, stated that the decision be made by the Mayor when the flags are to be lowered. Each councillor will then be notified, notified, and put their plan for lowering all flags flying on municipal property into action. When the Queen Mother passed away, and with the passing of the four soldiers recently, not all the flags were lowered, stated Trim. "This is unacceptable," he said.