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6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, August 25, 1987 One Woman's View by Chris Carlisle If someone would invent a railroad bicycle I'd buy it. It's exact- ly what I need. Around here, the railroad tracks serve as a boardwalk and when everyone takes a daily stroll, it's along the tracks which wander down along the lake, into the bush and all through cottage country. It's the perfect setting for a peaceful, easy walk. The trouble is, I always want to go farther than I can walk. Un- fortunately, the point at which I have to stop and go back home is just the point that looks the most scenic up ahead. I'd love to follow the tracks all the way around the lake for miles until I reached the town. But it would take too long-like all week--and I'd have no energy to get back home. The answer, 1 decided on one of my evening strolls, would be "a bike. But a regular bike would be murder bouncing in and out of the ruts between the ties. However, a bike with wheels shaped to fit one of the rails would be perfect. It could just glide along as smoothly as a canoe in calm waters and for the same amount of energy I'd get to see twice as much woodland beauty. I could even leave the car at home and take the bike into town to do my shopping. It would make for endless excursions all over the place via other lines that met up with mine. But the real beauty would be winter cycling. Because the trains clear the rails and keep them clear all winter long, cycling could become a year-round sport. Even as I write, however, | can hear the railroad officials gasp- ing in shock, sputtering out such adjectives as "irresponsible," "stupid" and "dangerous idiot" to describe me for even suggesting such a thing. Train time is any time. Don't I know it. The tracks run past the edge of my yard. And the only sure thing I know about train schedules is that if someone asks me how often they run and I say only on weekdays nine to five, there'll be a super-duper-length train crawl- ing past at midnight or half a dozen tearing down the tracks all day Sunday. You can't count on any kind of schedule. So the first rule for such a bike would be no stereo headphones to block that rumble of an approaching train. A handlebar radar unit "could surely be designed as well to warn the cyclist so that he could quickly hop off the tracks and out of the way. Still the railroads wouldn't allow it, I know. Train tracks are for trains, not a bunch of fools out for a Sunday cycle. Train tracks are private property and in cities and well-used lines, such a bike ride would probably mean death. But up here in the country, where some of the more isolated lines are hardly used, couldn't a few of us sneak in a quiet ride from time to time? If we dared, it would probably mean a campaign by the railroad companies to keep us off their tracks. That would mean patrols of railroad police waiting to ticket trespassers and charge them with all kinds of offenses. (But that would create more jobs, wouldn't it?) | | The railroad, instead of fining people, could get into the business Letters Nuclear awareness a good step To The Editor: It was a step in the right direction when the Durham Nuclear Emergency Task Force handed out a booklet on how to prepare for nuclear disaster to people living near the Pickering Nuclear Station. One day we may need all the infor- mation we can get. It may be sooner than later -- Let me explain! On page 11 of the booklet, jointly written by Ontario Hydro, Durham Region and the Office of the Solicitor General, it says ... "If a major pro- cess fails during normal operation, special safety systems provide fur- ther lines of defense. These systems, tested every day, include two methods to shut down the reactor ...."" The crucial word here is *'in- "clude" because although the Picker- ing B reactors have two fast emergency shut down systems, the aging Pickering A reactors were built before present day safety systems were required. They have only one fast emergency shut down. system in violation of Atomic Energy Control Board Licencing Document number 13 which governs all nuclear stations newer than Pickering A. In fact if Ontario Hydro made application to build Pickering A now, with its obsolete safety systems, the AEKCB would be forced to reject the plan. Further, on page one of the Nuclear Emergency Task Force booklet it says ..." Every two years, before being granted a licence to continue operating the Pickering station, Ontario Hydro must apply to the Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB). Proof must be submitted that the stations in-depth safety systems are being maintained and properly operated..." No mention is made of the AECB"s option of mak- ing exceptions to the rules whenever it suits them. What protection do we really have? Recently the AECB relicenced two Pickering A reactors ... once again overriding safety regulations by overlooking shut down systems which fall below official standards. This is particularly alarming when you think that these two reactors just went through a $441 million rebuild and still the required safe- ty systems were not installed. Joseph Molloy, an AECB officia] was quoted in the Globe and Maj] (94 July '87) saying "we wouldn't licence it unless we, and the hoarq members, felt it was safe." No doubt a certain group of nuclear reactor operations felt exactly that same sentiment until Chernobyl] proved them wrong. In the early 1980s the City of Toronto requested that Pickering A reactors by operated at reduced power. Just as a car is safer at lower speeds ... a reduction in power at Pickering A would give operators more time to react in an emergen. cy situation. The AECB denied the request. So it's full power at Picker- ing A ... full speed towards disaster. Jeff Brackett. Durham Nuclear Awareness, Box 2143, Oshawa, Ontario. More traffic problems To The Editor: Recently, letters have appeared in your paper extolling the necessi- ty of a left turn lane southbound on "the Oshawa Road into the Apple Valley subdivision. Regrettably, with NHL teams. 3 UH Viewpoint | by John B. McClelland (From page 5) request by Russian players to play on this side of the Atlantic I'm not totally opposed to Russians being allowed to play -here. But it should be on our terms, not terms dictated by the bosses who run hockey in the Soviet Union. My whole point is that I would much prefer to see the dollars used in the develop- ment of hockey talent on this side of the pond. Why should fans in Canada and the United States pay big dollars to have a few Russians in uniform for a year or two, when virtually all the money would find its way into the Russian hockey and sports this was not constructed during the recent resurfacing of that road but the problem is greater than one of inconvenience for southbound motorists on the Oshawa road. Apple Valley has been in ex- istence now for over ten years and during that period there has only been one entrance to it, that off the Oshawa road. Initially, this was not a problem for there existed only the homes on Orchard Road and Blossom Crescent. Over the past five years however, the area has grown considerably to the east so that the subdivision now approaches Carnegie Street in the north and the Van Camp yard in the south. Despite this growth, there remains only one entrance to the entire area: east on Lakeview Drive from the Oshawa road. This poses several pressing problems. Between the entrance off of Blossom Crescent and Orchard Lakeview Drive and the intersection J Road, there are over forty children - | under the age of twelve living in the development programs. Russians playing in the NHL would not - the be the same situation as Swedes, Finns or even the Czechs. -- | and-install some kind of warning transmitting device on the train | | (Turn to page 8) I just think the NHL teams should be putting their spare change into the development of young home-grown hockey talent. homes. All traffic into the area must take the single route along Orchard (Turn to page 13) Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten SUMMERS END ".. Well here we are into the last week of August, and although we are still being blessed with great summer weather, the cool night air indicates that summer is all but over for another year. But it's been a great summer this year, probably one of the best in recent memory. In fact, one old- timer told me a couple of weeks ago that he couldn't remember this type of a summer since he was a young man. : And I would have to agree with him. This sum- mer, unlike those of the past, it didn't seem to mat- ter when you took a holiday because the weatherman co-operated all summer long. But now fall is almost upon us. The Canadian Na- tional Exhibition (a sure sign of summers end) got underway last week, the Blackstock Fair is all set to go this weekend, the Port Perry Fair follows stride a week later and then it's "*back to school' for some 2,000 plus Scugog Township youngsters. I'm sure there will be hundreds of moms out there who will be happy to see the kids head back to the classroom, as by this time of the summer, they seem to be running out of things to do. By now many are moping around with a blank look on their face wondering "what can I do now?" That will all come to an end soon, and moms around town can look forward to the hustle and bus- tle of getting the kids out the door and on their way to school, before finally sitting down with a warm cup of tea or coffee to relax for a few minutes before she tries to get the house back into shape and life into a routine once again. A salute this week to the parents who have suc- cessfully made it through. yet another summer, and now our thoughts turn to the teachers who will take over the responsibility of our kids for the next 10 months. BACK TO THE GRIND After a week of laying back and taking it easy, it was a little hard trying to get back into a routine Monday morning as I prepared to go back to work. It was about 6:30 a.m. when I pryed open my eyes and squinted at the digital readout on our bedroom clock only to drop my head back into the soft, fluffy pillow again. The ten minutes I thought I could spare before getting up, quickly turned into a half an hour and my next glance at the clock told me I was already behind schedule. Panic strikes when you realize you are late, and I quickly threw back the blankets and stumbled for the washroom, where I spent the next ten minutes under the shower attempting to get my morning in- to focus. It's amazing just what a half-hour in the washroom does for the body in the morning. When you think of it, there is probably no more important room in the house than the washroom, for it is here that one of the most amazing transformations of your day takes place. The stale taste in your mouth, the unmistakable body aroma and the frazzled hair all disappear in about 30 minutes behind the locked door of this small room. So when I emerged from the washroom on Mon- day morning it was not surprising that I had regain- ed my composure and was ready to tackle the day with vigor. A week of holidays does a lot for a person. The cobwebs are cleaned-out of your head, life takes on a different perspective, and priorities are once again shuffled and placed into a new order. In fact, one of my highest priorities now is to make plans to take another vacation very soon. (Turn to page 8)