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Tomorrow's forests MAY 4-10 is National Forest Week. Across Canada various groups and individuals will be doing their thing to observe it. Special meetings are being held. Exhibits set up. Pronouncements made. Open houses held and speeches given. The sponsor, the Ontario Forestry Association, has an active program planned. Forests - green growing forests - conjure up all sorts of ideas in an active mind. Hikers, campers, anglers, hunters, trappers, bird-watchers, outfitters, foresters, investors, landowners, loggers, lovers, naturalists, teachers, students, politicians and a host of other "publics" dream forest dreams and have their forest nightmares. Logging, spraying, preserving, zoning, providing access, using free, paying for the privilege, creating parks, securing wood, preventing fire, replanting, measuring, mapping and a host of other activities relate to forests. Add the topics of trade, jobs, taxes, mills, fun, aesthetics, wildlife, watershed protection and you begin to round out the forest picture. We're lucky in Ontario. We have been blessed with a rich forest heritage. It has changed a lot. It has helped keep us growing even as we used it. We need to be sure we return the favour. National Forest Week is a time to think, to learn and to take stock of the importance of forests to us. it is a time to plan for tomorrow's forests, too. Community Justice Week PROVINCIAL SECRETARIAT for Justice has designated April 13 through April 19, 1986 as Community Justice Week in Ontario with the theme "Access for All."' This initiative is undertaken to assist in public understanding of the law and justice system. The system is designed to serve the public by ensuring a fair and equitable way of life for everyone. In a democracy, citizens owe it to themselves and to society to know:and protect their rights as well as to know how the justice system works and how to use it. The best way to understand the system is by exploring it and participating in it. This is why the Ministry's with major responsibilities for justice - the Attorney General, Community and Social Services, Consumer and Commercial Relations, Ministry of Correctional Services and the Solicitor General are sponsoring Community Justice Week. In Barrie, staff at the Barrie Jail, Camp Hillsdale and Probation and Parole of the Ministry of Correctional Services and representatives of Probation and Aftercare from the Ministry of Community and Social Services will establish a display booth at the Georgian Mall, Barrie, featuring different themes each day of the week. No finer sport ANOTHER sure sign that spring has officially arrived is the reappearance of rugby on the pitch at MSS. Like our Canadian and American football, modern rugby (rugger) can claim to have descended from an ancient Roman game played well before the birth of Christ. Several centuries ago Edward I, Edward III, James I and even Charles II went to great lengths to outlaw the "'violent" sport. Thank heavens players were keen back then and went right on playing even with the sheriff breathing down their necks. Since then a certain semblance of order to '"'mob football" has come into being thanks to a set of laws put into place in 1871 by the Rugby Football union with headquarters in Twickenham. Rugger, as members of the Midland Clubs will tell you, isa complex sport but one that has been taking Canada by storm. It's a game of skill and tactics with 27 laws thrown in for good measure. ' When the game is played well, with lots of forward motion and support, there's a game none finer to watch. ©1986 PUNCH PUBL. DIST. BY L.A. TIMES SYND. "| hate long goodbyes." -Letters OMA sets out its concerns Dear Editor: The following letter was sent to: The Hon. David Peterson Premier, Province of Ontario Office of the Premier Legislative Building Queen's Park Toronto, Ontario M7A 1Al1 Dear Mr. Peterson: Representatives of the Ontario Medical Association, including myself, met with you on several occasions this past fall to discuss problems in the health care system. We agreed with you that the dilemma presented by increasing needs and scarce resources required urgent attention. We were pleased to hear that you recognized the public purse cannot support the full cost of health care for much longer if we are to maintain our current high standards of care. E We expressed great eagerness to participate in a fundamental reconsideration of how health care is delivered to the people of Ontario and how it is funded. We further agreed that in the context of such a study, physicians' billing practices should be a part of the exercise. We suggested further that while a study was underway we would assist you in ensuring that the financially disadvantaged were exempt from any direct charges by physicians. In the final analysis you refused to hold back legislation on the opt-out question pending sucha study. In short, it was you, not we, who refused to negotiate. The 0.H.A. now publicly presents you with the offer we made in private. The people of Ontario cannot afford a war between physicians and government. The stakes are too high. The current excellence we enjoy in health care is the fruit of a long- standing collaborative relationship. We plead with you to put away your legislative hammer and join with us in finding a better way. The people expect no less of us. Sincerely yours, E.D.Myers, M.D. President, O.M.A. Regrets closing of park Dear Editor: I am writing in response to an article which appeared last fall in local newspapers announcing the intention to close Huronia Park in Penetanguishene to overnight camping. My regret at the reading of this has not diminished since that time and has prompted my writing this letter, as we again near the prime recreational season. Granted, there are serious environmental concerns which could involve costly expenditures, but I wonder if the Parks and Recreation Board is "throwing in the towel" too quickly. I wonder if the overall benefits received by the town in- directly, one example being the revenue generated for small businesses from increased tourism, might not warrant readdressing the problem and seeking possible solutions. I personally experienced Huronia Park the entire 1985 season and found it delightful - small enough to be private, clean, well-supervised, quiet, family-oriented, with well-established trees, boating access, and a safe and natural waterfront only a few feet away. We found it so relaxing © watching the boats enter and leave the bay, in- cluding the Schooner Bee, canoeing over for a closer look and to utilize the facilities at Red Dock. In turn, its suggested counterpart, Ojibway Pitch in Dear Editor: "Pitch In '86" will be held this year from May 5- 11. This annual event gives all of us an opportunity to show our concern for the enivronment by helping to clean up our communities. I want to encourage you to join with me in acknowledging this event and to do all you can to "pitch in" in May and all year long. Yours sincerely, Sean Conway Landing, does not appeal to the senses of the naturalist camper. I find it a shame so few people seem aware of what resources are readily available - many drive hours on major highways to reach havens that offer less than what Huronia Park could offer - perhaps minutes from their home and maybe even their workplace (the Mental Health Centre, one of the area's largest employers, is five minutes down the road!) Also, such close promximity could provide the solution to accommodation for their summer visitors, if reservations were taken from local residents. Alas, few seem aware of Huronia Park, other than those who have been seasonal residents or those living adjacent to the park, this being a group who have apparently found them- selves at odds with the Parks and Recreation Board. In conclusion, I must again express my regret, and I would think that of others, at not being encouraged to spend my summers in your pic- turesque town, with all its culture and natural resources, and just as I was beginning to ex- perience all it has to offer! Sincerely, (Mrs.) Sharon Reeves, General Delivery Midland, Ontario L4R 4K5 -Eetters-- The Penetanguishene Citizen welcomes Letters to the Editor. They must be legible, signed (by hand), and carry the writer's address and telephone number for verification. Pen names are not allowed and anonymous letters will not be published. Letters published by this newspaper do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this newspaper, its publisher or editor. --Penetanquishene Citizen-- Published by Bayweb Limited every Tuesday at 74 Main Street, Penetanquishene, Ontario 549-2012 Second Class Mail Registration Number 2327 Publisher: Andrew Markle Manager: Judy French Editor: Michele Gouett Member : cn Member Page 6, Tuesday, April 15, 1986 eee --