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With all the fanfare over the opening of the first ever Vegas-style casino in Windsor last week; I could not help but think just how far Ontario has come in its attitude towards gambling. 1 can vividly recall as a youngster the times my Dad would come from work with an Irish Sweepstakes Jticket in his wallet. Sometimes he would pass it around at the supper table, never failing to mention that it was against the law in Ontario to sell or even possess a Sweepstake ticket. Of course, everyone where he worked bought those tickets, laws or no laws. Then he'd tuck that ticket deep down in his wallet, almost as if he was afraid the Ontario anti-rackets police would nab him on the street, find the illegal ticket in his Tw and drag him off the jail for a fi months. *a Dad was asdwnest as the day is long. It seemed somewhat funny at the time to think of this law-abiding man actually buying an illegal Sweepstakes ticket. These days, I don't know if Sweepstakes tickets are even sold in Ontario. Why should they be? You can walk into any variety store and more than satisfy any urge you may have to buy a ticket and hope Lady Luck smiles your way. Gambling of course means big bucks for empty government coffers. It's no surprise that a casino in Windsor has opened to the public with the rosy predictions that 12,000 folks a day will walk through the doors with money to spend. It is just slightly ironic that Windsor, which has lost thousands of "honest" jobs as factories closed or moved south of the border, is now banking on a casino to provide jobs and lure Yankee dollars to this side of the border. 1 have nothing against gambling (in fact I buy lottery tickets and I enjoy a good game of five card stud) but quite frankly I find it un-settling for a place like Windsor to hitch its economic future to the "easy" money of a casino. I guess "easy" money is better than no money for Ontarjo, where just a few short years ago ,.anyone, including my Dad who bought a Sweepstake ticket was breaking the law. Yes, times have changed. NOT A PRIORITY: Legislation giving gay couples the same rights and obligations as heterosexual couples has been given first reading in the Ontario legislature. With all To the Editor; The death of Kurt Cobain effected many thousands of people. Some of his fans were disgusted both with his decision and with the coverage by the press. Others the pressing and urgent probl facing this province, I can't understand why the government insists on pushing ahead with this one. To get this bill through second reading is going to take a lot of time, which in my view should be spent on issues more important. I am not a total foe of the NDP govérnment currently in residence at Queens Park, but I sometimes have to wonder just who is setting the agenda. Our local MPP Gord Mills is cord as being opposed to this so- #. called "same sex rights" Bill. EN CLOSING: How many times have you read an article on some famous person, usually in business or politics, which gays he (she) is a workaholic who "routinely puts in 18 hour days and loves every minute of it?" As one who has to put in an 18-hour day, grab a couple of hours sleep and put in a second long day in a row, I get a chuckle when I read that people do this all the time. I can assure you that after I work from early Monday morning to late Tuesday afternoon getting this paper out each week, with three hours sleep if I'm lucky, there is nothing "routine" about the mental and physical strain. To put in these kinds of working hours on a regular basis is, based on my experience, an impossibility. Strangely enough, I usually feel fine the day after the work marathon, but the fatigue really catches up two days later. I ache from head to toe and my mind is about as sharp as a bowl of porridge. I have been putting in these marathon work stretches since the Citizen started nearly three years ago. No, it doesn't get any easier. And to anyone who claims that 18 hour days on the job are routine and enjoyable, I say balderdash. were over with grief. Some made him into\some kind of sick role model and decided to end their lives in the same way. No matter how you look at it, the fact that someone, rock star or not, decided to end his own life because he had no hope is an incredible tragedy . . especially when some of us held the answer to life's hopelessness and were too busy making him into a star to tell him about it. Kurt, I'm sorry. The following is a poem I wrote for Kurt shortly after his death. Kurt Here lies a man - a little boy who never escaped Roig the loneliness of his youths - or his ® Hore stands acrowd- two thousand who chant, "I love you!" - From the grave he screams, "You never loved me, only who I was." He cries in anguish, "If you had loved' me, you would have stayed - No one lovéd me that much - no one loved me unconditionally." Here sands a man all alone - standing, ook offer a grave, lowly runs his fingers over his nail- palms and whispers, "There was no one to tell you of what I gave - No one to open your eyes and ears * So you could heat that I loved you from the beginning of time - And always will." Janna Fletcher E t Port Perry Thanks for support" To the Editor: On behalf of the Kidney Foundation, may I take this opportunity to extend sincere appreciation to the s and residents of Scugog Township. Our "March Campaign" was an overwhelming success in Durham Region, raising over $7,000 in Scugog and over $100,000 in the Region. We have so many un-sung heroes in our community, too numerous to mention, but o stands odt as being a vital r society who keeps alive the volunteerism. ville Lovering is our top volunteer in Durham Region, collecting over §),100 during March for the last two years in a row. Thank you to Vallie for his continued support. Due to the generosity of many we have once again fulfilled our goal to improve the quality of life for kidney patients through research, education and patient services. Steven Snider, DVM Silence deafefiing' MPP Gord Mills (Durham East) and the Hon. "Marilyn Churley, t the silence to date has been deafeni lies have come To the Editor: For your readers' information, the "Save Scugog Island" C i is org 3 rapidly. group ready to distribute informtion 1g casino on the Mississaugas reserve on Scugog Island. Shortly, the committee will have informed legal counsel. In answer to my fax messages to our from Alex Shepherd, MP and the office of the Hon. Ron Irwin, minister of Indian and Norther Affairs in Ottawa. There appears to be no federal apport, for this gambling casino. Tough to be a 'proud' Canadian \ To the Editor: In light of recent letters published in this column, and a y Aipush by certain service groups . towards a celebration of blind national pride, I find it very difficult to eall myself a proud 't get me wrong - there are many freedoms and advantages to living in Canada that | would not trade away for anything - but the ignorance and intolerance towards others that has been expressed in these pages over the pan fow weeks is utterly In ironic rr to. tKewe calls for the return of "the good ole' days" comes requests from the Kinsmen Club to fly our flags. My apologies to the K 1 am a white, heterosexual, middle class male. The world is my playground - but for a good and growing percentage of the rest of Canada, this is not the case. Whether we be of different race or religion, gender or sexual orientation, the truth of the matter is that we are all people, we are all Canadians, and thus we should all be treated equally. Judgement against someone should only be cast once we see all the machinations of their inner character I am sick and tired of people tearing apart because of theft vis face value differences, Vallie Lovering's debacle published last week reinforces to me just how and misinformed a lot byt | cannot begin to express my love for a country that continues to hate, misunderstand and discriminate against its own citizens. IK of us are, It is obvious that Vallie Lovering knows little of the Sikh faith « the turban is not just a "hat" as he put it . , itis a distinct part of their religious pe something embellished and protected by our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The days when "men were men and women were proud of them" ended when women began to fight their oppression and aim « for equality. Unfortunately, parity between the two sexes has yet to arrive, but when it does happen, hopefully that antiquated line can be changed into "men are men, women are women and both understand and respect each other." Ignorance to the reflity of equality is only slowing this process down. And why shouldn't people be proud to be gay, Vallie Lovering? One of the biggest problems in the world is that people cannot come te grips with their ht we ped bt edition in the classroom. Here's some facts for you and for other Citizen readers that need to be drawn attention to. Ten percent of the world's population is homosexual. Seventy five percent of Canadian teens are having sex, under a quarter of those without any protection at all. The percentage of AIDS cases, whatever it is , is too high. Anyone that feels that AIDS is a gay disease is kidding themselves - hetero teens are the current high risk group. Sex od is not coming from the home, it isn't coming from the media or the church, so logically, school is the only institution available to Ba neem They understand all facets of sex, including the simple fact that it is alright to be gay. Children are not being exposed to any sense of reality in the current sex-ed classroom due to soft-pedaling by the boards of education who are eatering to parental interest oups. We Have a nation of blind, rebellious, horny and experimental kids who really don't have a clue as to what they are doing, betause sex is still a taboo Mere. More sex od is necessary instead of less, before we have a real crisis on our Vallis Lovering. I would think that people should know better by now, + deal with it. By denying kids the i veally soupld, the opportunity to learn and way udge others. But the understand about sex and eirel hate and fear and sexuality, its danger, its beauty, intolerance just keeps going. its necessity and place in We're all just people. Period. , wa're only throw When is the garbage going to them to the proverbial lions. -