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as the tribune thursday january t 1mz service corner bymahlon wshantz i4a9 jmoas- tiwl t the project known as home support services has many intangibles which cannot be shown in columns offigures or evaluated in terms of dollars and cents nevertheless the records of all activities so carefully prepared by coordiriator betty savage are a good indication of what happens from time to time i will attempt to review the history of its work in stouffville the focus of interest is on the needs of people over 60 until recently very few people lived more than 73 years and in many countries 50 is the upper limit with modern medicine and health care we now have a large percentage of our population in the over 60 group the people of stouffville have a tradition of grandparents living in comfort and security as part of the extended family with this background of social concern it is quite natural for people to offer help to those beyond their own family as individuals or in co operation with others homes for the aged nursing homes and private hospitals have been one answer to the needs of the aged but there are many seniors living in their own rooms who are generally able to cope with the daytoday work involved in keeping house except for something like transportation to the doctor and for shopping etc or they may need periodic help with housecleaning or reading and writing let ters there are sometyho should have daily contact via a phone call i was asked by the board to write a column for the tribune to provide in formation and a challenge for the people of stouffville on the social needs of the day i have written 20 articles in which i ex plained in detail the various formsof service the board is offering to the community in every writing i ended with a challenge and frequently a strong plea to share some time as a volunteer i have failed to communicate so utterly that not one person has registered as a volunteer in 1981 the 16 ones we have were recruited personally only five live in town several are slaves to the work shamefully overloaded because there is no one to help i have the feeling that everyone is in terested and sympathetic to this work at a safe distance and are sure there are a number of good people responding to each call let me tell youmy friends that is not the case rather it istiiesolemnjruth that the success of this projectyes the very future of people helping people depends not on what you think or say about the matter but what you do about it its up to you tmr trigone house things in stouffville take a look established 1888 james thomas barry w wallace andrew p cook editorinchief publisher advertising manager editorial dept jim holt jim irving greg coates display advertising dept rod spicer bryan armstrong classified advertisingcirculation joan marshman office manager doreen deacon business office eileen glover national advertising representative dan poyntz 3631051 published every thursday at 54 main su stouffville ont tel 6402101 toronto dhorie 3611680 single copies 25c subscrptions s 1300 per year in canada s3500 elsewhere member of canadian community newspapers association and ontario weekly newspapers association second class mail registration number 0896 t l the stouffville tribune is one of the metroland printing publishing ltd group of suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajaxwhitbypickerino news advertiser aurora bannernewmarket era aurora bannernewmarket era weekend edition the bolton enterprise bramp ton guardian the burlington post the burtinton weekend post the etobicoke advertiserguardian the etobicoke consumer the georgetown independent markhamthornhilleconomist and sun the milton champion the mississauga news the mississauga news weekend edition the north york consumer the north york mirror oakville beaver oakville friday beaver oshawa this week oshawa this weekend peel consumer the richmond hillthornhill liberal the scarborough consumer the scarborough mirror the woodbridge vaughan news viewpoint happy new year one and all by jim irving- 6402100 3611680 editorials ighway sign omen of good things to come i enjoyed your column the other week jim the man said to me as i walked down the street oh thank you very much i said trying to look suitably modest in the process yes mr sanders he continued its good to see you fellows in there describing the political scene good of you to recognize me without my beard i replied stumbling off through one of those miniature ski jumps a town grader had left in the middle of the sidewalk losing both rubbers and the shine off my new 995 shoes as i did so great way to start the new year i mused wonder who else heli cheer up before the days over i started across the street just as a guy in a black pin stripe driving a 1936 packard braked to a stop beside me sending a gigantic spray of mixed sand slush and salt over me causing the top two buttons on my coat and the capping on my right incisor to immediately start rusting where can a guy get a drink in this town he blared try the town well i said removing some slush from my ear lobe and stepping around the back of his car i needed a helicopter to get over the snow at the curb but luckily a lady watching from the silver jubilee club across the way saw my plight and rushed out to help me im used to doing this with my grand children she said the little tykes always run out to play on the sidewalk after the snowplow comes by but those big mounds are often too much for them but they triumph eventually the oldest learned to ski on one thank you very much i said for the second time that day to a complete stranger that was very considerate of you i usually have my st bernard with me i added trying to be flip dont mention it she said drop in and have tea with us some time at the club if you ever make it across to the other side again see you in the spring i mumbled at the restaurant the juke box was playing something that would have made good background music at a landfill site its two rapt listeners dressed accordingly i moved farther down the room where the only noise was the occasional cry from the kitchen as the cook grabbed a hot pan handle or got some juice in his eye from a hot sausage after inadvertently pricking it with a fork editors mail the old year wasnt ending tod well i opened my book of wintario tickets and started checking the numbers against the winners in a morning paper someone had conveniently left on the table hey i won a book i yelled waking up the waiter who was dozing in the corner and causing the dish washer to crumble the paper cup he was drying hey i won another one i shouted just after my second triple check moving the waiter into action you hokay he asked handing me something like the 34th carbon of the days menui am i ever i replied i just won two books we gotta a nice new years special today he said ignoring my jubilation fish and chips with turkey onna side you liketa try sure i said why hot ive just had two good omens for the future its going to be a great new year besides i went on i like fish and chips with turkey on the side happy new year everybody as the news story in the tribune last week stated in its opening paragraph honk twice if youre glad our sign is back the reference was to the notice board at lloyd brittons auto sales main st w which mr britton rents for his use the portable unit whose happy messages have made many a moody motorist move out of his rut for a kilometre or two has been missing of late 1 not because britton had run out of things to say or that there had been complaints about the sign being twofaced but because it was on the wrong side of the tracks as it were the municipality being a bit more progressive in these matters rightly con siders such notice boards to be signs of the times and sanctions their existence the ministry of transportation and communications however feels such units have their limits the tbwnline in this case as a result it allows their use for only four months a year a span that can be consecutive or spread out a call to the ministry to see just why this should be brought only the endless repetition of a recorded announcement on highway conditions in ontario whether it stops after four months is not known but it certainly cant compete with brittons messages for style and humor theres no doubt about it the government moves in ulterior ways its blunders to per form it is especially forbidding when it comes across anything that smacks of fun by rights it should be grateful for all those merry moments designed to catch the motorists passing fancy if nothing else the boards cheeky countenance helps keep ones mind off all its overspending so its great to- see it back in its customary place its always been a sign of good things to come and with its present message extolling us all to pray for marjorie and courtney its obviously back just in time activated charcoal for water dear sir from news reports and from reports of students who are studying the issue it is clear that stouffville residents are worried and understandably so about contamination of their water supply due to a nearby waste disposal operation placing of liquids of any description in a landfill site is not a disposal method and should not be allowed placing of liquids in a landfill site is a contradiction in terms and makes no sense placing of solids that are very soluble in water in a landfill site is just as bad if the site near stouffville has received liquids there is little point in arguing at length over testing which wells were tested and the significance of the test results the intelligent thing is to assume that the underground water is contaminated no more liquids or soluble solids should be placed on the site and a piped water supply should be arranged the piped water supply system should be paid for by the factories which generated the liquid wastes which were placed in the site in the meantime each citizen can protect his or her own health to some extent by treating well water at home with activated charcoal it is well known and wellaccepted that activated charcoal will remove chemicals and especially organic chemicals from water however improper use of ac tivated charcoal can cause problems as well there i recommend that water be treated as follows in a halfgallon bottle with a wide mouth place a teaspoon of activated char- coal fill with water and stir place the bottle of water in the refrigerator the charcoal will settle out to the bottom and water can be poured from the bottle for drinking and cooking when the bottle is nearly empty discard the activated charcoal rinse the bottle and start over again activated charcoal can be obtained from laboratory supply houses such as fisher scientific 184 railside road toronto catalogue no 5690a for a 1 pound can prior to moving to waterloo i lived in a town where the water was not very good and i followed the above procedure myself for several years edward jfark as v scdpeng associate prof essor dept of manenvironment studies university of waterloo