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sa4 wednesday february 22 1981 editors mail protected dear mr thomas i was intrigued by the tri bunes page 1 photo feb 15 issue of the great horned owl i wasnt aware that an owl would attack pen- nedup fowl of this type i thought their diet consisted mainly of rats and mice the question that follows is has a farmer the right to shoot birds of this species if hes protecting his own livestock or are they protected regardless of the damage they do ive yet to find anyone who has the answer if a dog entered a property and destroyed a fowl or animal a far mer could kill it does the same rule hold true for birds of prey sincerely gordon bennett rr 1 cedar valley editors note jim ryan of canine control rr 4 stouffville says a legitimate farmer is entitled to pro tect his own property against any bird or animal that causes death or injury in this case however the ruling would not apply disservice dear editor the information accompany ing the photo of the great horned owl did a disservice to this beauti ful bird what makes you so sure it en tered the pheasant pen to kill or if in fact it did kill now all the wild bird hunters will be questioning the owls right to protection theyll point to this one alleged incident and use it as an ex ample im not saying an owl wouldnt kill a fowl of this kind but i would suggest its very unlikely sincerely bruce atkinson gormley rr 1 editors note i feel as you do that owls should be protected however in this instance it did kill i saw the victim or what was left of it sorry sir but nicoles science fair project just erupted again the tribune editor established 1888 bruce annan publisher pat pappas advertising manager editorial dept jim holt audrey green display advertising dept terri bernhardt real estate classified advertising joan marshman circulation manager doreen deacon national sales representative metroland corporate sales 4931300 published every wednesday by metroland printing publishing distributing at 54 main st stouffville ont tel 6402100 single copies 40 subscriptions 51650 per year in canada 4500 elsewhere member of canadian community newspapers association ontario weekly newspaper association ontario press coun cil and suburban newspaper of america second class mail registration number 0896 the stouffville tribune is one of the metroland groupof suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press the aurora banner ajaxpickering news advertiser the bolton enterprise the brampton guardian the burlington post the burlington weekend post the etobicoke advertiserguardian the georgetown independent markham economist sun the milton champion the mississauga news the newmarket era the north york mirror oakville beaver oakvtlle friday beaver oshawa this week oshawa this weekend richmond hill liberal thornhill liberal the scarborough mirror the stouffville tribune and woadbndge liberal metroland printing publishing distributing is a division of harlequin enterprises limited 6402100 6402101 r roaming around did i miss my calling editorials parental interference at science fairs in recent weeks we inspected the major ity of science fair projects in whitchurch- stouffville schools not all but most in some instances the work involved was amazing even surpassing expecta tions of local judges we praise these programs however we feel ground rules should be more explicit can a parent assist and if so to what extent several students to which we talked hon estly admitted theyd received help but how much help part of it half of it all of it they didnt say and we didnt ask however its safe to say the kid who goes it alone and produces a project according to his her ability doesnt stand a chance against displays completed by adults this eventually leads to frustration and ultimate withdrawl did i miss my calling was i really meant to be what i am and do what i do many undoubtedly ask themselves this same question usually after its too late to change lanes id be dishonest if i said i dislike jour nalism the truth is i not only like it i love it however there are times usual ly around 3 am on a tuesday morning when i wonder if thirtythree years ago i selected the right profession this however is an openended query ill nev er be able to answer for ill never have the opportunity of finding out i suppose the best way of responding to the vacuum in my mind is to ask my self a question if i had my life to live over again would i choose the same vocation my immediate response would be an unequivocal yes which i suppose is all the convincing i should require still for all that there remains a gnawing sensation way down deep that i should have been a teacher its a profes sion i hold in high regard particularly at the elementary level where the shaping of minds souls and spirits is at an impor- tantand impressionable stage in this regard i can think of no greater satisfaction than to look back over an entire generation and say in them is a little bit of me what a reward because of this innermost feeling i become extremely irritated when i hear people in very general terms condemn the profession they talk about the hours 9 to 330 the holidays- christmas easter march break and summer the salaries the benefits and all the other red herrings worn thin with age its safe to say not one of these se rious critics would last a week in a clas sroom let alone ten months by the same token i also become even more aggravated when i observe a teacher shirking his or her responsibili ties the system has a few of these teachers who look on their work only as a job they do no more than is abso lutely necessary and in some instances not as much these are the parasites few though they may be who give the profession a bad name but id never be one of those no sir not me maybe yes maybe no whos to say all i know is i enjoy talking to kids and i was afforded that opportunity a week ago thursday the occasion was career day at sum- mitview school with pad and pencil in hand i attended the event however as fate good fortune would have it one of the speakers a lawyer no less was de layed on a case in court leaving a vacan- by jim thomas cy on the guestlistthe principal lome boadway immediately announced my presence td the organizer merril mcphail and suggested something to the effect that if youre really stuck jim can fill in staff teacher norma card went a step further she grabbed me by the arm and with her feminine powers of persuasion ushered me inside the clas sroom door while pretending to be awestruck by the suddeness of my switch in roles i was actually elated for a halfhour at least i was fulfilling a lifelong dream even without the benefits of props a newspaper camera etc i told my listening audience all about the wonder ful world of journalism and listen they did their young minds weighing on every word later they posed questions intelligent questions that could have opened up whole new areas of discussion but there wasnt- time the thirty minutes had gone by like thirty seconds certainly for me arid hopefully for them i was sorry when it was over the halfhour had made my day c however the days since have been less intriguing for the question has arisen again with ever increasing in tensity did i miss my calling ill never really know but thanks kids for keep ing the spark alive i attempt to embarrass window on wildlife old fashioned winter by art briggsjude by requesting other municipalities in york region to consider the establish ment of a young offenders detention cen tre in their areas the town of richmond hill it would appear is attempting to embarrass its neighbors by tossing them a politically hot potato in addition its attempting to wash the blood of guilt from its own hands for it was richmond hill as well as aurora that opposed a detention centre at blue hills academy west of yonge a decision that engendered some critic ism so now the council is saying how would you like it here in whitchurchstouffville in stead of discussing the issue in private and coming up with no decision mem bers should have responded yes if the location is right york region requires such a centre so why not here a nothing response would indicate councils too timid to accept such a responsibility this is the type of reaction richmond hill was looking for and no doubt expected protect at any price if an opinion poll was taken concerning types of stories that interest readers most tribune readers anyway news items related to birds and animals would undoubtedly rank far above all the rest we conclude this from comments re ceived every time nature stories appear in this newspaper it matters not what kind a dog a cat or a canary folks are suddenly caught up in the joy or sorrow that may be connected with it we knew this when wc published the page 1 photo of the great horned owl and the understandable question that would follow the owl killed should it too be killed in this case no only because a pheasantowner isnt considered to be a legitimate farmer however had this predator selected a different site a legitimate farming operation to feast on a fattened fowl then the owner could have killed it without question the law in our opinion is hazy with respect to whats protected and what isnt and whats protectable and what isnt and how is the bird to know we say that a great horned owl or any other similar species should be pro tected regardless of the size of the prop erty where the victim is found or the na ture of the operation where the killing takes place birds of prey arent particularly choosey when it comes to meals particu larly during the winter when meals are often difficult to find this being the case the law of the wild should prevail this real cold old fashioned winter with its temperature extremes re minds me of the winter of 1981 why temperatures of minus 40 degrees cel sius were recorded in many places and at our old farm near westport i think they dropped even a shade or two lower my wife and i had arrived from our gormley residence to spend a winter week in the country and because this was an annual coldweather vacation we thought with our previous experience we were prepared oh i might as well tell you we didnt have the hydro in yet so our only source of heat was an ancient patricia pat cook stove now under normal winter condi tions this old chrome and black beauty was more than adequate but as i pointed out this was not an average season we had half expected the pump in the kitch en to be frozen it was and so had brought in a couple pails of water to tide us over till we got the pump thawed out what we didnt expect was to have these same pails of water freeze solid right in the same room as the stove and within an arms length of our bed let me tell you how frigid it really got during that record cold snap and how it affected us apart from the slight incon venience of melting ice in the pails to wash and cook we had a few other prob lems a cold air mass was continually chilling the floor up to the stove level and despite laying old rugs down and patching the wall holes up the warm air just kept going up up and away through the old rafters 1 to take advantage of this warm upper air mass we lashed four foot lengths of 2x4s to the legs of the bed buoyed by the results we decided to eat in this upper warm region too it was a simple matter to nail a piece of hea vy plywood to the top of a step ladder and thus form a high table now extension legs were attached to a couple of chairs using some lengths of old pipe a few cross pieces on the bed legs and an old foot stool enabled us to reach these dizzying heights and under such conditions its amazing how quickly you adapt in fact i think i only got up once in the night and stepped off into four feet of air space before crashing down in a crumpled heap on the floor seems to me about that time i even forgot what the heck i got up for in the first place being an ardent hockey fan we tried to get the nhl games on our little bat tery tv set well sir somehow that in tense cold was affecting the transmis sion and we were getting zilch as i was fiddling with the set my wife suggested the fire might be more important theres some of that good hard iron- wood down there in the cellar she said maybe wc should try it soon i was stoking up the stove and as i did a great idea crossed my mind why not utilize that tall plume of iron laden smoke curl ing up in the frosty air as a tv anten nae in another moment i had fastened a wire from the tv set to the stove pipe when i switched the dial back on the results were amazing why i had 26 channels without a cable and even pick ed up a russian league hockey game between sparta and moscow selects the real test of the cold nights though were the evening jaunts to the outside john the extreme cold was cracking through the trees sending off as many reports as the opening shots of the duck season on lake scugog but that was only part of it stepping outside was greeted with a number of internftttent missiles as the old square nails flew out of the plank siding aided and abetred by the penetrating frost rushing back in side i returned to complete my back house journey wearing an old constf auc tion hard hat and carrying a large gar bage can lid for a shield thus equipped i was able to reach my destination fending off the unexpected squareheaded shrapnel enroute but trouble was everywhere on that trip can you imagine my concern when i disco vered as i was about to leave that my posterior was frozen to the seat- un daunted i carefully reached around and tapped out the hingepins with my pocket knife racing indoors with the seat still fast frozen i must have resembled a large mud turtle with a small shell rather than risk injury i let it come off in its own good time of course all this would have re mained a secret except for the fact i went skinny dipping in the back forty pond that spring and wouldnt you know some smart alec neighbors kid had to spot me hey mister he yelled as i submerged to my waist that horseshoe you got tatoocd on your hind end sure is a dandy