Whitby Free Prou., Wednesday. OCtober 11, 1995 Page 7 .........E... MH T A PRFEMTYGcxX MkrrHAVE Holding the fort Shortly before noon Monday Erin came ini sobbing from her trip to the park with a firiend. Ljoudly. A 1-year-old can sob very loudly. 'What's the matter?" These are tears of pain. "he kids at the fort hit me with sticks!" Thlis cornes oute/" through a couple of sucking sobs. For the past few days Erin and a fr-iend have been playing in a wooded area i a greenheit a block away. In family lore, the wooded area is referred to, as Rabbit Fou- Fou's Forest, so named when she was two. She does not like public references to this. In tbis sinal stand ofocedar, 1-year-old girls sweep the ground bare, anchor sturdy sticks chest higli between trees, make-believe rooms with a smail circle of stones. Other gmoups of cbildren had similar ideas. For the past week, Erin and her friend had been in territorial combat _______________________________ for their own special part of Rabbit Fou-Fou's Forest. First the others had tomn down their, branches, shredded their screen, scattered their stones. Retaliation. Then came the slinging of the insulta, the barbs, the taunts. .. .. . "You're ugly." "You're fat. 'Did your mother have any normal kida?' 'M)id yours have any that lived? And in>w sticks. Worse, hitting with sticks. The conflict had finaily reached violence. Time for the United Nations. 'TII corne," I said, donning my jacket Intervention ini children's fights isn't wise. But violence begets violence. Some other model must be available. As we approached the wooded knoil, a group of girls LW turned once i the distance, turned around a fenoe corner and were gone. "Show me your fort," I asked Erin and lier friend. They did. A tidy circle in the cedar -stand,, swept bare. Someone. has written in the dirt with a stick, m "J****** Stinks." 'Ife took ail of our stuif;" the girls said. "They got it in their forL. 'fley showed me the* other fot Simffar in design, it al so boasts haif a dozen one-inch cedar poles rigged horizontally between trees. "That's ours and that's ours,"ý the girls said, pointing. We soodquiely.Tweny yrds way hi neghboÎin backardblu jay fouht ith tarlngaovera bid RSS BLL CBIN, OCOBER194 in any way." Those aren't my exact words, but they sound * Mex Scott is named the chief operator ofWhiftby's new sewage disposai plant. good enough'now.s Whitby'e population, including patients at the Ontario Hospital, is 14,364. I had been home an hour before the girlis returned. Town council is split on public use of the new municipal building. "Guess what7'they asked. 'We're frienda With the girls Whitb>r Safet3r Council held its first annual bicycle rodeo. now. They have a fort and we have a fort and..." 80 YEARS AGO "Good," I said. "Now maybe you can look out for each from the Thursday, October 7, 1915 edition. of the other. Or maybe invite them home te play in your WHTYGAZETTE AND CIIRONICLE playhouse. ]Pm sure if they liked a fort theyd ike that." a T. Aird Murray, who designed Whitbys sanitaiy sewer system in 1914, has been appointed "Iimmm. Could be." Then: "We also brought home a town engineer for one year. stray cat. Want te see it If's hungi. It .. . "s A big recruiting meeting for the war in Europe will be held in the Music Hall on Oct. 9. Hmmmir. Peace-maldng is one thing. But feeding the 0 A chicken pie supper and entertainment was held at Almonda Methociet Church. hungry of the world? 0 A seven-roomn brick bouse with bath, electric lightB anxd three town lots is advertised for sale "No," I saiîd. "No. N. O. No." at $3,600. Some thinge you just gotta stick te.n Z(A r , 11, indvýý*) v.titiji'W 1;3 ert4q