% %E EINESI>AY. AUGUST26,1987 RnXAfbIN F FI FR Newns & Features Editor klin Pro fi Phone 655-3637 Reflections of a Golden Age By MABEL M. McCABE Grandmas and grandpas are really good for something. This may sound like a funny line with which to open an article but many of the younger generation forget the fact. My grandchildren we're devastated when their grandfather died and shed tears freely. It seems that he was only missed when he was gone from their lives forever. The above preamble leads to the fact that many who are getting on in years are put on the back burner of the lives that should be closest to them. Why? I do not know. I'm a grandmother many times over and have noticed that several of those precious ones come to me and ask things. When it's suggested that they speak to their parents they often say, "Oh, I couldn't talk to them about this." Strange, isn't it? I could be wrong but my feeling is that there is a closer bond bet- ween grandparents and these young folks than most parents realize. Maybe it's because they know we were around when their fathers or mothers were making their mistakes and we can lead the new young ones along without bias. We've seen it all either by doing it ourselves or watching our children stumble. I feel proud to be able to talk frankly and openly about any subject with my grandchildren. I have one standard rule, though. I tell them to make an effort to talk to their parents. I feel that is important. The communication between parent and child is the greatest and most inspiring item on their agenda. I guess we have been around so long nothing ever really shocks us. We can accept the frailties of our grandchildren much better than we coped with the errors our own kids made in their growing years. It is very easy for us to reach back in memory and maybe dredge up a time and situation where we over-reacted and caused a breach with our children. When we hear or see things in their kids' lives that are similar we try to give advice that will not cause the same thing to happen in another generation. I do not condone taking over the responsibilities of the parents. ,But sometimes a bit of history told of incidents in the past can steer a young person back onto an even keel when the ship seems destined to overturn. Life has a strange way of coming full circle. We find the same restrictions we imposed objected to by the children of those who are now parents who at one tirine long ago felt the same way. I suppose as we get older we can remember our own anger and frustrations with curfews and groundings better than our kids can. Never mind it will not be too many years until they are gran- dparents and suddenly they will find they have become an oracle. I don't know all the answers in this crazy age we live in but having survived this long the kids think I do. The hardest part is when one of these precious ones goes off and takes a step that you know nothing about and feel should have been talked over. Then again, it is their life and all of us have to stand aside and allow them to make their own mistakes. This is the only way they will learn the rights and wrongs of life. They will have to be prepared to accept the consequences of their actions. PC's open Brooklin office The Progressive Conservative party has opened an office in the Brooklin area. Last week, the campaign office, located at the corner of Baldwin and Roebuck Streets, was opened by Sam Cureatz, PC candidate for the riding of Durham East, in which the Brooklin area is located. On hand for the festivities were Cureatz, wife Kathryn and sons Rion, Draydon and Collin, along with many members of the Brooklin and District PC Association. The Brooklin office joins those in Oshawa, Port Perry, Orono and Bowmanville to be manned bv PC supporters in the Durhanm East riding. It will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 1 to 8 p.m. on Friday. Saturday hours have yet to be determined. Anyone unable to visit the office can. have their questions answered by calling 655-3959. Candidates discuss minimum wage By ROXANNE REVELER During the television debate bet- ween the leaders of the province's three major political parties, NDP leader Bob Rae said he would in- crease the.minimum wage to $6.75 per hour from the $4.55 which will take effect on Oct. 1. Durham East NDP candidate Marg Wilbur agrees with her leader, saying it is impossible for people to live on the current minimum wage, particularly for women who form the majority of those'employees now working for minimum wage. But she cautions the government must give support to small businesses to help them raise the minimum wage levels. "I understand the problems of the small businessman, but at the same time, the employee has to make a decent living," says Wilbur. Liberal admits iti candidate Diane Hamre is "impossible to live in today's society and take care of a family at that wage level." She says something has to be done to assist them, either through the minimum wage, or the social ser- vices system. "We have to look at the minimum wage earner and find a way for them to pay rent, buy food and clothe their children," says Hamre. "Right now, there is no incentive to SEE PAGE 21 I don't know how many of you read my friend Mabel McCabe's Reflections of a Golden Age column that ap- pears weekly on the same page as my Viewpoint. If you are smart, you all do, because this wise lady more often than not hits the nail right on the head. Last week was no exception with her comments on how the waterways of this land of ours have deteriorated over the course of years. Knowing Mabel as I do, it was probably difficult to con- tain her observations within the realm of the printable. The "old gal," as she refers to herself, has lived long enough, and seen enough, during her years on this earth to be a great judge as far as I'm concerned. And her com- ments of last week jogged my memory to a small article I noticed hidden in a corner on the weather forecasting pages of a Toronto daily not too long ago. I knew when I had read it, and because'the trusty fireplace is not in operation at this time of year, and the boy scouts don't collect during the summer, it was just a matter of time before I rummaged long enough to find what I was looking for. There is a little preamble to this story that has some significance, and sets the stage for what is to come. Around the third week in July, I pondered the question with hubby as to why a great number of the plants in my prized (only to me) veggie garden were taking a sudden and unexplicable turn for the worse. Over the abnormally hot, dry summer, which I will not complain about for one second, and neither will you if you know what's good for you .I have placed my utilities budget on the verge of bankruptcy due to the amount of water I have poured on ny garden. It was then, with some mystificatron, that i nticed the leaves on tomato, bean and potato plants star- ting to yellow and wither. Likewise, the lower leaves of the crn ;tilks were in a shaky state, and the broad beans tot!aIly kicked the bucket. We were talking mystery and VIE WPOINT by ROXANNE REVELER 'f The pH problem searched for non-existent pests. This is where the article comes into play, and the mystery appears to be solved. Now this article, which as I say was buried in an area of the paper that most people do not scrutinize, usually, myself included, took up merely 15 lines in a single column. But what it said knocked my socks off. It was called "Acid Rain Watch" and the analysis came from Environment Canada. It said..."The most dangerous of three acid rainfalls in the past eight days carried a PH level of 3.3". This goodie came from West Virginia and western Pennsylvania and was monitored at the acid rain post at Dorset on Aug. 13. It went on to say that another rainfall on July 7 had a level of 3.9 and came from the border area of Wisconsin and Illinois. You are now saying to yourself, "So what?" That is what I initially though until I read further. You see, I am not a scientific wizard. The pH is something I'm used to hearing about in relation to shampoo. But the fine print at the end of the article explained that low pH numbers are the most serious: those below 4.0 are just plain dangerous to plants and animals and fish and ultimately, you and I. For heaven's sake, fish die in a pH level averaging below 4.5. Any reading below 4.7 ultimately means environmen- tal damage. Now I'm not an environmentalist nut. But this is the only patch of countryside we can call our own. We have a real problem out there, baby, and not saying that Canadian industry is squeaky clean, we sure as hell don't need complications thrown in fron south of the border. Ã'fý' littie veggie garden is peanuts compared to the uevasiaton oi our agricultural and fishing economy and I'm mad. Mabel was right in her summation. This is an election year. If ever the time to strike was right it's now. Let them bicker about free trade with the U.S.; about an upgrading of the educational system....that's OK in the short term. Although those subjects, I grant, are important, they are peanuts compared with the real problem whether we will still have a country that can feed us at all. Hit the candidates that will be knocking at your door. Find out where each stands on pollution controls, par- -ticularly curbing those that find their way from America. And for heaven's sake, don't let me down again. Make a noise over this acid rain nonsense. If you'rc not concerned about your own future. think about your kids and your grandchildren. They have a right to enjoy the natural beauty that is starting to become only a memory for us. The question is now starting to be. will there be any place left for these adults of the future in which to live decentlv? And you know, they have their right. too. At least that's the way it looks to me. e nudmnnjr. 1 1 L 1