WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22,1987, PAGES r This is a story about Ted and Bob and John and Ralph and Harold and Albert and Charlieand Gordon. It is also about poetry. The poetry comes from Robert Frost, the American poet, who said, "Good fences make good neighbors." Ted and Bob and John had never heard that before, and Harold and Albert and Charlie and Gordon couldn't remember it. So when Ralph paraphrased Frost and said, "Good neighbors make good fences," the wit was lost on the whole lot. But Bob did pick up on the key word, fences, and said that yes, he'd been thinking of putting up some fence this year, the subdivision being new açd everything'and he wondered how everybody else thought about it. Harold thought that Frost guy made good fences, and that'd be good enough for him. Everybody nodded, except Ralph. "Besides," said Gordon, "putting up a fence as a com- munity project would be a good way to meet everybody." None of the eight - count 'em, eight - neighbors knew the names of more than one other, that of the family next door to the north. "Why, it'd be the modern version of a barn raising." Bob said he would pay his half of-whichever of his neighbors insisted on putting up a fence, and that he preferred a high heavy wooden fence with expensive lat- tice work on top of it and gargoyles sitting on the posts for the rain to run off of, but that nobody could count on his helping to build the damned thing, since he planned the next weekend to go to a go-cart track and bust his arm and be out of commission for the rest of the summer. Ted and John and Harold and Ralph and Charlie then got together and decided to build a simplified Erectrified fence, whatever that is, with proper four by four posts set in concrete and two by four strapping and six-foot-high fence boards offset on each side of the fence with three- and-a-lialf-incl spaces between and capped with littie plastic hats. Albert was away that week, but Gordon said he'd had a chat with his neighbor and was sure it'd be all right. So that weekend they dug all the holes on their parts of the fence, taking turns all Saturday and Sunday holding down a three-person power auger, which, when it struck a rock, which it did every ninety seconds, threw all three men and half the beer in an arc across whoever's lawn they happened to be on at the time, which didn't augur well at all. Then they all poured cement. And set posts. The thing they found about posts, see, is that set three, maybe four feet into the ground, there is little chance of frost (nothing to do with Robert) heave. If frost heaves your posts, then five, ten, years down the road the fence looks like it was put together by a bunch of drunks. With posts set in concrete, by a bunch of guys drinking beer in the hot July sun, the same effect can be had overnight. Then the lumber arrived, dumped on Harold's driveway because he hadn't yet paved it (so John decided) and it wouldn't matter much. But the next load, the fence boards, were dumped on Entrepreneurs have produced employment By SCOTT FENNELL MP Ontario riding Last week during the longest heat wave we've had so far this summer, we received some great news from Statistics Canada - the unemployment rate fell below 9 per cent for the first time since February 1982. This means the unemployment rate has fallen by almost three percentage points since the election - from 11.7 per cent to 8.9 per cent. I was also very pleased to learn that the youth unemployment rate is at its lowest since August 1981, at 13.6 per cent. There is no doubt the government is very proud of this achievement; however, we cannot take full credit. The fact remains it is our small and medium-sized business communities that have supplied the majority of these job opportunities. Canadian entrepreneurs have proven their drive and ingenuity on- ce again, giving many Canadians the opportunity to grow and ad- vance with them. To ensure there is greater co-ordination and communication between different levels of government, meetings between ministers responsible. for small business have been convened on a regular basis. In addition, the small business consultative commit- tee has been restored, and its mandate has been widened to mclude advising the government on specialized issues affecting small business such as financing, government procurement policy, market development innovation and technology transfer and en- trepreneurship. An action plan has been implemented to reduce paperburden for small businesses. A federal-provincial-industrial committee will provide the Minister responsible for Snall Business, Bernard Valcourt, with advice and suggestions in this area. These are only a few of the measures the federal government has taken since September 1984. This government is very aware of the importance of the small and medium-sized business communities, and has continually attempted to provide the support required to improve the business. atmosphere in the private sector. AI Canadians benefit from this co-operation. Former Quest teacher gets LA recogniton Alan Haskvitz, former teacher.at the Quest Centre in Whitby, was named one of the top three social studies teachers in Los Angeles Countiy by members of the Perryman Foundation. Haskvitz, who serves as depar- tment head in Walnut, California, has created three firsts in the United States including having his students rewrite official voting rules for Califomnia voters. He wil1 now compete for state- wide and nationaleonors for lis ac- complisliments after receiviilg a special master teacher s-hôlar-hip from the state of Califormnia. The Perryman Foundation is dedicated to improving social studies educationi Los Angeles and awards $500 to the top program. Haskvitz is aiso eligible for con- sideration as the Teacher of the Year in California. The Pickering resicent has aiso produced special education programs featured i international publications and is a computer and English specialist with his students producing the highest California test score increases i writing for 1986. Haskvitz also formerly taught in Oshawa. Wayne Aasen, a member of the Whitby Jaycees, was recently recognized by the Canadian Junior Chamber/Jaycees as the most outstanding national vice-president for 1986-1987, at their national con- vention held in Waterloo July 1-5. The Canadian Junior Cham- ber/Jaycees is divided into eight regions across Canada with each region having a national vice- president at their senior office. Central region extends from Oakville to Montreal and north to Timmins and now Sault Ste. Marie. During Aasen's term of office, five new junior chamber clubs were established. The new clubs, plus an increase of members in existing clubs, resulted in a 43 per cent growth in Central Region. The central region Jaycees were also recognized as the number one region in Canada. The Junior Chamber Jaycees is an organization of young people between the ages of 18 and 39 with emphasis on individual develop- ment through community in- volvement. A low tender of $1,018,009 has been awarded to Novacor Con- struction by regional council for the construction of Manning Rd. from Anderson St. to Thickson Rd. The nine tenders received for the extension of Manning were analyzed byMarshall Macklin Monaghan Ltd., consultant for the project, which recommended receiving the tender of Novacor which was almost $3,000 lower than tleir nearest competitor. The Region's share of the con- tract consists of the construction of 140 meters of watermain to com- plete looping the systern at Elizabeth Cres. and-the construc- tion of about 24 meters of sanitary sewers to service two homes south of Manning Rd. Originally it was assumed the DR.W.J.KE I is pleased to announce that he will be participating in THE W HITBYURGENT CARE CLINIC * OPERATING AT 127 PERRY STREET During evenings and on weekends Phone: 668-5872 Manning work to cost $1 million sewer in this area would flow to the north. An amount of $9,000 for the sanitary sewer work on Elizabeth S2dYýýýýýl ONc!.O m Cres. is proposed to'be financed from the 1987 current operating budget. Aasen honored by Jaycees Albert's driveway, since he hadn't paid anything yet and he was away at the time. And for two whole weekends the neighborhood rattled and banged and banged and rattled. Until John ran out of nails and went next door' and took some of Ralph's, figuring this was all community property, which it wasn't, and Ralph threw a hammer at him. Then came the day they added up the whole cost, the nails that everybody used that belonged to other people, and the post whole diggers. And Harold said Gordon should pay more because.he didn't help dig the first holes, and Gordon said he'd dug more holes in his life than any young twit ever would and he'd never heard of anybody paying for labor on a joint project. And Harold went to Albert and said Albert'd made a mistake in spacing the boards, and two sections would have to come down on Albert's side, thanks a lot. And Albert didn't say much. Then Gordon jumped in and said he wasn't going to pay a cent for labor, because he'd done all he could, even if his fence wasn't straight, and especially since it wasn't the fence he wanted in the first place. Then Harold went back to Albert, and to Ralph, and to Gordon, and said how he'd made a mistake and the fence wasn't really pool regulation, because John was supposed to have checked, and now all the boards would have to come off and be nailed back on one half inch closer. So now that the fences are all nailed down, Ted won't speak to John or Bob. And Charlie and Albert hired a lawyer to have Gordon's side of the fence remeasured. And Albert has just learned that Revenue Canada just disallowed his mother-in-law as a business deduction, so he won't get his refund cheque, so he can't afford'his half of whatever anyway. So the bad neighbors made good fences. And Gordon was right: it was a good way to get to know the neighbors lu