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"WELL | omy HorE HE 15V'T HUNG--uP ON ArPUTATION { | i AR RR CR ER Re 0 Comms SE Chaff erBox by J. Peter Hvidsten Thoughts of warm spring days enter the heads of many these days as winter drags on and on and on. Being such a long cold winter this year, I decided the only way to effectively make it seem shorter would be to participate in some winter sports activities. I don't mean sitting around a card table for hour after hour with liquid refreshment in one hand and cards in the other; nor sit in front of the boob-tube for hours on end; nor pass away the hours by sleeping till noon and back-to-the-sack by eight. y No...this winter I decided to stay active. There has been basketball, knippe-knoppe (some- times known as ping-pong), skating, snowmobiling, skiing and horse racing. : Now I can imagine you saying, "Horse racing, that's not a winter sport." But you're wrong. I have had very little to do with horses during my life, but my few brushes with these animals have been more than enjoyable. As a kid I would ride my uncle's big work horses on his farm north of Huntsville, as he led them around the pasture. When you have legs as short as mine, you're eight years old and sit on top of a Belgian, you can' feel it when you get down. I was never accomplished at doing the splits, but after a ride on one of these wide-backed animals, I came as close to doing a perfect split as I would ever get. The only other horse that I had much to do with was a quarterhorse owned by my sister-in-law, Judy. The horse's name was Aquarius and it was indeed a proud and beautiful animal. Aquarius liked to run, and with a rider mounted on his back would take-off like a shot across the field. Now if you are an experienced rider this is all well and good, but with me the situation became a comedy routine. Aquarius knew that 1 didn't know how to control him, and took it upon himself to prove it. The only ride on him was across a plowed field into a neighbours back yard, with Judy running after me yelling, "pull the reins...pull thé -- reins", and other non-printable phrases. It was after that short ride that I decided not to become a jockey. My latest experience with horses was by far my most enjoyable, A few weeks ago, four of us, Jack and Jill, and Pat and Pete (believe it of not those names are not made ih up) headed to Kawartha Downs near Peterborough to take in the horse races. This was my first trip to the races, so the day was planned by Jack. First, we all piled into a car that is classified as a four-seater, but after riding in the back, I would argue that, point with the salesman, After an hours drive we arrived at the track, bought our tickets for the Club House, and entered. Although the tickets for the club house cost a little more, and required you to eat a meal, it was well worth it. In the club house, we could rid ourselves of our outerwear, sit in comfort at a table and have a refreshment of two, while the horses did their thing on the track. * Jack was a big help. He explained the racing form to us, then left us to figure out the winners. It was fun scratching, calculating and making a decision as to which horse had the best chance of winning. vo Now to give you an indication of how well we calculated, Jill and I lost the first, second, third and fourth races, at $2.00 a throw, before winning in the fifth, Yup...we won in the fifth. At this point I had either started to get brave or desperate and had placed $4.00 with the cashier. It was only this brilliant move that won us $3.90. Now you may say that we didn't win anything...we lost 10c, but you're wrong. We won, and I don't care what anyone says. We won! Well, by the time the 10th race rolled around, Jill and I were becoming very experienced at looking "'cool" while the wallet decreased in volume. So, in the, tenth, we decided to throw the whole wad in...and shoot-the-works, so to speak. That's right, all $6.00 of it. And it paid off! We made $10.50 on that race. Talk about -bad luck. Just when we had figured out how to pick winners, they closed down for the day. To me, that was just like getting up from a card game when you're winning and saying you've had enough. . Anyway, Jack was the winner that day, so he sprung for supper. We then headed back to Port Perry- where we sat around a crackling fire and reminsced about our outing. : We all enjoyed it, and will probably try it again in about four months. a SR SS SE ns a _- a A a an NIRS ti 'Hunters Are Not Irresponsible In over eight years of pushing a pen and aiming a camera, this writer has covered thousands of issues "in hundreds of municipalities from Elgin County to Smith Township council, but if there's one story that can be written once and mimeographed for all of them, it's the annual periodic, or spurratic furor over the issue of hunting. : I've covered gruesome murders, cop-killings (attempted), rapes, childbeatings and some pretty sick stuff, but nothing draws 'em out of the woodwork like the bang of some nimrod's gun and the lifeless body of a deer or rabbit cooling in the snow. Scugog doesn't appear to be different, and at the last council meeting we saw at least one councillor classify 'a majority of hunters' as irresponsible, wild-eyed savages intent on killing" anything that wanders across the cross-hairs of their blunderbuss. Mind you, one has to sympathize with the non-hunt- ing farmer who spends most of the day dodging bullets, painting COW in. large white letters on his animals, or chasing hunters off his property. Undoubtedly the stories of ifresponsible people with guns are not fabrications. i : Yet responsible people must watch out for that nasty habit of stereotyping, disparing or condemning what we don't understand. In other words, if you don't hunt, don't condemn those who do. (Model airplanes can be an awful annoying sport as well, as anyone who's lived next door to one of the noisy little critters can verify). For those of us who don't hunt, it might be wise to note that hunters, as a group, are some of the most ecologically conscious people around. In the United States, some states entire conservation efforts. are funded totally by the licence fees paid by the hunter. Donations and projects by hunters have saved wildlife habitat and have established wildlife pre- serves for all to enjoy. It's interesting to note, for example, that the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters includes as part of its aims: ' --Pressing the government and educating the public inthe need to clean up air, water and soil pollution. --Urging the government for Wetland acquisition and maintenance 'to ensure the survival of our Migratory Waterfowl. --Producing and distributing pamphlets to further our theme of conservation by education. - ' --Educate the public and politicians to what true conservation is. Special emphasis given to young people through Junior Conservation School. --Actively working with the government of Ontario in .our program known as The Wildlife Extension Program to make available more private land for hunting and to improve the relationship between the landowner and the sportsmen. --Protecting the interests of all sportsmen by striving to ensure that our natural resources are managed on a sound biological basis and not from political pressure. ' ? . | Good Move By Uxbridge Council Last weeks decision by Uxbridge Township council to move meetings out of the council chambers in Uxbridge, into the wards three times a year, seems like a positive move to try and get the residents of the township involved. - Although council was split on the decision, Mayor Gordon Davie lived up to his election promise of listening to the people, and cast his vote in favour of the recommendation. 4 ? We are sure some of the councillors who voted against the motion on the principal that it would disrupt regular meeting habits, and that business files and other pertinent information would not be readily accessible, are quite correct, but feel they can overcome these obstacles very easily with a little pre-planning. ' As Is normal with most meetings, unless people are really concerned about an issue, they will not make an effort to drive in to a meeting to see what it is all about. : ) This move by Uxbridge council could well be adopted by Scugog to show that they really are concerned about what the people think. How about it, fellas...we'd bet that the people in Blackstock and Greenbank would love to have a chance to see their council in action in their villages.