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Woman's View by Chris Carlisle It's time to rise up against the rats of the world The four-legged ones " x Rats are disgusting, dirty and downright hazardous They think nothing of getting into your walls and chewing your electrical wires to keep their teeth sharp They ll gnaw on anything to have teeth the envy of the pack ~ Afnend told me he woke up one night to finda rat chewing on his ear His ear was slightly munched and while I have neo proof it was actually a rat, 1 believe him Rats are pests They make a mess anywhere and have no sense of digmity. At least a dog messes someone else's lawn. A cat buries his waste But from investigation | did when faced with a Big Rat Attack. | learned that rats mess their own homes They carry bubonic plague and live in dumps Okay. so do a lot of humans but at least with us, it's not by choice Rats are also smart. Hey, they work with some of the smartest scientists in the world. They have great jobs in top labs. And without any education. They just Scurry in and immediately get jobs work- ing on disease cures . Unul a few years ago, | was like just about everyone else. Didn't particularly like rats but hadn't had any firsthand experience. That all changed one moonlit night. There | was snuggled safely in my bed, in a brand new suite in a brand new house, dreaming of ax murderers, when something heavy ran up my legs and stomach-on top of the covers. I was in- stantly awake and threw off the covers as it crossed my chest. As I said, I was dreaming of ax murderers, a common occurrence in 'those days. | was on various medications--prescribed--so I figured it was just another drug-induced nightmare. I lay back down and closed my eyes only to have the thing tear up me again. This time | knew it was real and threw the covers off again, toss- ing the thing to the floor. Turned on the light and there it was. A giant 'rat-fourteen filthy inches. I know exactly because once I got it, I measured it. : But right then and there, it being the middle of the night and me fresh out of rat traps, I tried setting out bacon so when he went for it, I'd smack him with a log. Only the rat charged me instead. When I swung, I missed and he ran under the fridge. I tried a trail of crumbs to the door, hoping he'd eat his way out': Hansel-Gretel style, but no luck. Too smart. : 'The next day 1 called the rat man. He was impressed with its size but couldn't get it out from under the fridge. Instead, he set out sticky pads. Whenthe rat got stuck; 1 was to-push him into a cage. Huh, 1 planned on creaming him on the pad. Forget messing with the cage. - 'But when the rat got stuck and I went for it with the ax, he broke loose and ran back under the fridge. Next time, I waited for him to be good and stuck but instead of getting stuck, he got away | had to set a huge trap K \ The next three days were hell. | never knew when he'd spring and kept imagining him eating his way through the wall into which he'd found his way again, landing on my bed and heading straight for my ears . Finally on the third day--after sleepless nights of him crawling the walls around me--I found him spreadeagled in'the sprung trap. I bent to pick it up and the darn thing jumped to all fours, trap bar still pinning him by the neck I almost lost a finger to that fiithy mouth , Ax time again | crushed h)s head with the flat end | admit. | was cringing, but'l had to put'it out of its misery That was only the beginning His wife appeared the next mght in search of revenge So ¢ontinued my battle and so grew my hatred until the mere mention of a rat brings out my killer instinct Rats are multiplying faster than humans and at last count out numbered us It's disgusting It's time we introduced a world-wide bounty on rat's ears Better we get theirs than they get ours Oshawa favoured as site for region headquarters When and if Durham Region builds a new administrative building, the most likely site will be downtbwyn Oshawa at the corner of ~ Mary and Bond Streets The Regional council's finance "and planning committees last Fri- day afternoon endorsed a lengthy staff report which says the Oshawa site would be the best one for a new building which would bring all the Region's departments under one roof In giving the nod to Oshawa as the preferred site, the committee re- jected proposals for a new building in Whitby or Ajax. Whether the Region should aban- don the current administrative headquarters building on Rossland Road in Whitby has been a hot topic for debate for several years. Viewpoint and when necessary a good old-fashioned cover up. But woe to any politician who is even suspected of sexual misbehaviour. Americans have a curious sense of morality when it comes to their politicians. They want them to have pure white personal lives, but they don't seem to mind overlooking scan- dals and wrong-doing of other kinds. ; Gary Hart can spend the rest of his days denying the sug- gestions that have been made of him. He will forever: be remembered for one thing. Ted Kennedy has found the path to the White House block- ed and barricaded solidly by the infamous bridge where one night nearly 20 years ago, he ran his car into the river and a young woman passenger lost her life. A tragedy, to be sure. A stupid' lapse in judgement on the part of a young senator, absolutely. And enough to cast a cloud over his head which he will carry to the grave. I'am not suggesting that Americans should tolerate personal indiscretion by their politicians, but I can't figure outa country ~ that can elevate Dallas and Dynasty to gigantic heights of popularity while at the same time damning a presidential can- didate because a newspaper thought it caught him doing something naughty. I can't figure out a country that can give the world the glitz of the Vegas strip, Playboy magazine, Dr. Ruth, Times Square and Liz Taylor with her eight (or is it nine) marriages, and yet demands that anyone elected to office or seeking office be a moral puritan of unblemished character. Co It is a mystifying and paradoxicdl phenomena. another reason why most of the world is fascinated by America. Yesterday's Memories 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday. May 11. 1977 Bill Campbell, executive director of the Central Lake Ontario Cohservative Autharity, told a Scugog Ratepavers Association meeting that they should consider having Scugog join the CLOCA The Port Perry and Uxbridge chapters of Beta Sigma Phi celebrated Founders Day and presented their "Girl of the Year" awards to Bunny Rowland of Port Perry and Pat Phypers of Ux- bridge. The award honours the girl whom members feel most ex. . emplifies the qualities and dedication to the concepts of her sorority "The critical eye of the public was once more evident this week as the Star received a letter from a reader (or former "reader as they sadly, but sincerely signed the letter) because they did not agree with the content of a recent columnists . viewpoint | We in the newspaper business are probably more sub- jected to criticism than most types of jobs because so many ~ people get to see and read what is carried in the pages of the paper, and we accept that as part of the job. A column in a newspaper is a personal thing, not unlike the "letters to the editor" columns we run in each weeks' paper. The column is a form in which the writer can express his/her views on many different types of subject matter. as the letters column allows are readers the same liberty The idea behind a column is not always to make someone laugh or agree with a stand, but sometimes to make the reader think. Trying to please everyone 1s an impossible task and one that is not even attempted Columnists do not mind péople having different opinions than their own as it is healthy to stimulate a variety of thoughts and ideas about any subject matter We don't even mind being criticized if the person doing the criticizing will do it 'without anonymity. This past week an anonymous letter arrived at the Star a Cc om m Ph - by J. Peter Hvidsten office critical of a stand that columnist Cathy Olliffe took on the ban of tobacco advertising. Cathy is a smoker. as are a numbef of other staff members here at the Star. but she claims she is sick and tired of being treated as a second class citizen because she smokes. Being a non-smoker myself I can understand the com- plaints of non-smokers about smoke-clouded rooms and the smell that lingers around those who do smoke. But. at the same time I recognize that smokers aiso have some rights. There are certain places I am happy to see the govern- ment or business have put a ban on smoking, but I would never be so self-righteous as to suggest that smokers do not have any rights at all. Our anonymous letter writer makes some very valid points about the dangers of smoking and dying of lung cancer is every bit as bad as alcoholism or drug abuse, but the letter writer loses all credibility by not having the courage to sign their name. They further negate any credibility by saying the reason they would not sign their name was because they were "'afraid of retaliation Anonymous letters, or phone calls for that matter. are not welcomed at the Star. If a writer is to be criticized for an article or column that has been published it is only com- mon courtesy for the person critical of the work to have the courage to stand behind their convictions. \ ' The Region's 500 office staff now occupy some 110,000 square feet of space, but 88,000 square feet is rented at a cost of $950,000 annually The Region's planning and works department are located in Whitby the finance department, Social Ser- vices and the Health Unit are in rented offices in Oshawa. The proposed re-location to a new site in Oshawa calls for construction of a building with about 170.000 square feet of office space which would" bring all the departments under one roof. The cost of building the new HQ (in today's dollars) is estimated at over $20 million. This figure would be reduced if the Region is able to sell the present headquarters building which is valued at about $6.6 million. A lengthy and detailed report on re-location prepared by senior staff with the Region, concludes the Oshawa proposal is the best one for Durham from a financial point of view, and would "provide the greatest stimulus for economic development' in Oshawa's downtown. While the Oshawa proposal has cleared a significant hurdle by get- ting the committee's blessing last week, it must still be approved by the entire Durham council. And at the conclusion of the com- mittee meeting on Friday, Durham chairman Gary Herrema warned that "all of this (relocation) is dependent on the final costs. Can we (the Region) afford it?" he stated. The chairman called it a "mega project" which if it gets off the ground will be subject to criticism by a lot of people in Durham 'who want their roads fixed first." The committees decision to en- dorse the re-location to Oshawa did not sit well with Whitby Mayor Bob Attersley. He favours a new building on Rossland Road, just across the street from the present Region HQ. One of the key features of the Oshawa proposal is that the city of Oshawa which now owns the site at Mary and Bond Street would turn this land over to the Region and the city would "guarantee" 610 parking spaces for the Region. At last Friday's meeting, the com- mittee also heard'a proposal for a -new building to be constructed by High Rise Structures Inc. at the in- tersection of Harwood and Bayley Streets in Ajax. Bridge May 6, 1987 Afternoon - 5 Table Howell - Avg. 36 Ist - Doris Phinney & Harold Brown 451;. 2nd - Elma Doyle. & Eleanor Goulding 43. 3rd - Marie & Harry Carnegie tied + with Bonnie Davies & Marjory Honey 421, 4th - Joyce Heard & Harry Tripp 41. Evening - 7 Table Howell - Avg. 70 North South Isr - Ginny Clifford & Kath Burley 861. 2nd - Audry & Peter Francis 76 3rd - Joan & Bill Lock 70'p. East West - Avg. 60 Ist - Doris & John Watson 68. 2nd - Grant Real & Otto Czilok 661, . : 3rd - Harry Tripp & Bill Mahaffy 61 HOSPITAL REPORT Week Ending May 7, 1987 Admitted - E 18 Births [ 5 2 Deaths o Emergencies 258 Operations 12 Discharged | 19 Remaining 34