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

VIEWPOINT John B. McClelland STRIKE THREE FOR BASEBALL Like most baseball fans the idea of a strike by major league players this season leaves me bewildered and angry. How, I ask myself, can anybody earning the salaries pulled down by "these players, even contemplate walking off the job. If the tough talk coming from both the Players Association and the owners is any indication, there will be a strike before the end of this season. And if that happens, there have been strong indications it - could drag on for a year or more. I don't pretend to have even a 'remote understanding of what the issues are in this dispute other than the owners want a salary cap for each team. But like most strikes, this one has A-not 80 obvious agenda. The owners want to weaken the Players . Association (or destroy it) and the players are determined not to give up anything they have now. Big league baseball is hardly a sweat shop. These guys are not toiling eight hours a day, six days a week in some dirty, dusty run-down factory. They are not working for minimum wage with no benefits and lax safety rules. Aside from the huge salaries they have the best of everything on and off the field. We all know that the super stars earn millions each year. Even the run-of-the-mill guys earn $500,000 and up. They travel first cabin, eat in the best restaurants and at the first sign of an injury are tended to by an army of trainers, therapists and physicians. And they want more? Not only, in my view, are the players out of touch with reality and greedy, they are thoughtless. Have they given any thought to the thousands of people who work the ball parks? What about the students who are earning minimum wage for slinging beer or hot dogs-- students who need this income to return to school? What about others who work the concession stands just to make ends meet for their families? What are they going to do when the players go on strike? The millionaire players can well afford to sit on their duffs for a few months or a year, even. But the people who do the real work in a baseball park sure as heck can't. 'a long time and long suffering ™ the Montreal Expos, I fear that a strike this season will spell the 'end of big league baseball in that city, The Expos have been losing money "* ime for years, their fans stay away in droves, yet as I write this they have the second best record in Baseball and trail Atlanta by a game. The one thing that might save the Expos would be a pennant race this season, getting into the playoffs and maybe even the World Series. «That would bring the fans back to the Big.O, and give the franchise something to build on. A strike this season would seal their fate. They would be moved to a city south of the border. Of course, with the political situation fast coming to a boil in Quebec, the fate of the Expos may be sealed strike or no strike. I don't have any sympathy for the cause of major league baseball players. And likewise the owners, except to say that they are the who take the risks and put the money up. They whine and cry just like the players, but I have yet to see anyone hold a "tag day" for the owner of a big league ball team. Finally (and this really ticks me) have the owners" or the players given any thought to the fans who love their baseball? They are the oi who ultimately pay the big lls by purchasing tickets to the games or buying the products of the companies that sponsor the games on radio and television. Many are every-day folks earning every-day wages. Taking the family out to a ball game puts a mighty big dent in the weekly budget. Of course, this fact would be lost on players and owners. One has to wonder just how much patience baseball fans have. Do the owners and players not realize or care what will happen if a strike takes place this year and last through the 1995 season? I suspect that many fans will say "to hell with them." They will turn their sports attention elsewhere out of sheer spite. After all, somebody grinding it out in the real world for $35,000 a year, trying to raise a family and pay the bills will not have a lot of sympathy for a baseball player earning $2 mil per year or more who hits the bricks. *Baseball is a magnificent game, I'll be the first to admit that. It is as much a part of summer as 4 cold beer and the pack yard bar-b-g. Sadly, the people who play the game and those who run the game have lost sight of many things in their quest for even more money. A strike this summer will simply prove it. : IN CLOSING... 1t was 25 years ago last week (July 20) that the first human ever walked on the moon. The world watched in awe via television as Neil Armstrong's big boot first touched the lunar surface. It was the greatest technological advance ever and experts hailed the spin-off benefits that would improve the lot of every human being on planet earth, -- A quarter century later the world is still waiting. In that time the advances in technology have been more astounding as that first flight to the moon. But millions of humans in about every corner of the globe struggle daily just to survive. They'd be happy with clean drinking water, for starters. . Is the world a better place gow than it was 25 years ago? Was it worth the billions to put that first human on the moon? I think not. But it seemed like such a wonderful idea at the time, didn't it? MP's pensions are a lavish and costly perk To the Editor: The C jon to Review All of Members of Parli has achieved the impossible. It has managed to make Canadians even more cynical about the political process. Made up of former politicians or by those 'sympathetic to politicians, this ion was established by active politicians back in January to make recommendations on how to reform the pay, perks and pensions of MPs. That's a lot like asking former tobacco lobbyists to recommend reforms to our smoking laws! It should not srw anyone then that the C i r d report was very kind oy MPs, In fact, it even recommended that they get a big fat pay raise. The federal government, to its credit, quickly rejected this. When the report came to MP pensions, however, it was a complete sham. MPs qualify for a gold-plated, lifetime, inflation proof pension after only six years in offi ice regardless of age. The ded Com an age requirement of 56 but that's it. The C: ission failed to d lowering the super-high benefits, it failed to recommend slowing the super-quick accumulation rate and it failed to recommend scrapping the unlimited inflation protection features of the plan. In short, the MP pension would continue to remain a lavish MP perk and a costly burden for taxpayers. Canadians expect and deserve better. Prime Minister Chretien should quickly introduce real MP pension reform, which would help to restore Canadians' respect for their elected representatives. Yours truly David Somerville, President National Citizen's Coalition Toronto Ban ties forever To the Editor: Bravo! Your suggestion (Viewpoint, July 12) that the wearing of ties be banned in Scugog during the summer months to promote a relaxed atmosphere was an excellent one--except that it did not go far enough. I propose that we ban ties altogether. Other than being un-wanted gifts at Christmas, birthdays and Fathers Day, ties serve absolutely no purpose. They are extremely uncomfortable, and feel like a noose around the neck rather than an article of clothing. | Many ties are ugly, gaudy, and poorly designed, detracting from our appearance rather than enhancing it. I am convinced that tc world would be a better and happier place if we did not have to wear ties. | urge all your readers to abandon their ties and wear smiles instead. Frank Murphy, Port Perry. Less politicians To the Editor: 1 just read the article in the Citizen of July 19th, regarding the Regional Council. Well, as far as I can see, it's fine providing you can afford it. This Region i is just too top heavy for the pop 1 mwithout ump can't they sit down and resolve an iid . the same day. I'm in favour of less politicians for Durham Region. They would be more ble for their actions, taxes would say less councilors. Make councilors work for their money. Right now they sit around and collect wages. They sure don't work too much as they can't make a not have to keep going up to pay for services we do not get. C. Moyes Blackstock Where's the justice To the Editor: An Open Letter to Gordon Mills, ho Durham East. When my wife died nearly two Years ago, I believed it was due to alleged negligence, malpractice and prescription drug-abuse. Having heard horror s about legal cases dragging on for yedrs and costing upwards of $100,000, I decided to pursue my case through the College of Physicians and Surgeons Complaints nt. I have' found that the College investigators and supervisors lack the initiative and medical | knowledge to Anat a The fact that the doctors "are tipped strongly in favour of physicians. It is apparent from experience, and from the statistics that the system lacks integrity. The College of Physicians Complaints Department should be abolished and funding withdrawn. A legitimate and ia dent C \aints C. tt, needs to be put in place. Incompetent physicians must be held responsible for their actions, and weeded out, if we want a good health care system. Patients must have free and easy access to their own un-edited hospital and medical records, and this must be guaranteed under the Freedom of Information Act. Everyone must have access to the Pp le for "policing" th is Canadian justice system, and I believe simply not working due to a serious the Seat way to accomplish this is to conflict of interest, I believe. alloW lawyers to take cases on a Of 2227 doctors who were inv contingency basis. due to patient complaints in) 1993, only These are all very basic and obvious 44 reached the Discipli needs, and I hope you, Mr. Mills, will 40 Thad 1h Diseigiine Comms work to achieve these goals in the House In other words, 2183 laints (over of C (Legis! ) in the very 98 per cent) were dismissed by the near future. College of Physicians as not Yours truly, any discipline whatsoever. Adrian deBoer, The scales of justice are apparently RR 3, Uxbridge. '