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p4 weekender august 16 1986 weekender miracle on main street a massive explosive ripped through markham village lanes early thursday marking a new era one in which a small idyllic town came of age markham village lanes a show piece on markhams main street was the target of a heinous crime manny elkind owner of the com plex stated in an interview with the economist that the perpetratorwas probably someone who was jealous whoever committed this mind less crime blew away the liveli hoods and dreams of several inno cent merchants and risked their very lives the bomb stripped away our illu sions too no longer can markha- mites believe themselves to be liv ing in a camelot community tuck ed away from the ugly festering problems and symptoms of our time markham has crime drugs hatred abuse loneliness and cor ruption just like we see on television and read about in other communi ties but when the rubble clears theres something left at the core something no bomb could eradi cate markhams got heart and spirit enough to rebuild the businesses of those harmed and enough left over to fortify the dreams behind them main street merchants are already making sure their peers re build their livelihoods and dreams support of every kind has begun to flow abundantly it is a miracle that no one was injured in the blast and a different kind of miracle that shows us this community is no stagefront camelot fr i- vr you want to borrow some shower summertime splitweekend blues okay get out the violins its time to send for the crying towels for those of us whose job circumstances dictate that a weekend consists of a thursday and a sunday off each week great in the winter when the un- crowded condition of most ski re sorts makes a weekday an ideal choice for nolineup skiing but in the summer when cottage country wanderlust seems to go with the hot humid weather the poor sucker with the split weekend must pack a lunch and head off for work when everyone else is packing their ditty bag and heading for the lake the retailer the nurse the cop and the shift worker can all be for given their wry smiles on a rainy saturday when they dont feci they are missing so much they remem ber all those beautiful saturdays when they had to deal with irate cus tomers snarky patients unlawful drivers and unreasonable bosses while everyone elses main concern was what kind of suntan lotion would protect them while providing a deep rich tan as a career retailer i learned to see saturday as just another day until i sold my business all of a sudden i had this full day off with the kids no church no structure whatsoever wow it took about 3 months to adjust to after which time i was hooked on the saturdaysunday weekend as an institution it was just like being a kid in school again but without the homework but a return to the retail game forced me to give up my new toy back to saturday night sunday and phoosh the weekend is gone nothing more than an extended cof fee break so now when someone asks what i did on the weekend im likely to reply that i blinked and missed it mind you a short weekend causes you to react with grateful celebra tion when you are able to catch the boss at a weak moment and wrangle a rare saturday off it also helps you make the most of what little lime you do have if you have friends with expen sive toys you can dazzle people with visions of weekend adven tures even if you do only have one day but as i found out last weekend the reality of the experi ence can sometimes fall short of the image conjured up in the minds of others my friend brian has an 18foot sloop so we decided to spend the 21hour weekend on the boat sail ing playing guitars and butchering the music of bob seger and neil young now this craft may zip along pret ty well and it may handle waves in a more than adequate fashion but have you ever tried to sleep in one of those sardine cans its sort of like trying to sleep in a chevettc or try on this scenario you head out from pefferlaw to beaverton under blue skies and powered by a gorgeous breeze you drop anchor at a beach to have a swim then stroll over to he snack bar to pro cure some ice cubes so you can con coct your favorite drink all is perfect until you look up and see the black wall of cloud which has suddenly appeared on the near horizon accompanied by a sudden megaincrease in wind speed four hours later you limp back into the slip soaked to the skin shivering and with new respect for sudden simcoe and her instant storms and you never did get a chance to mix that drink so that in a nutshell was my most recent short weekend not such a bad memory i guess now that my wretched cold is clearing up who knows what ill do next weekend lets see now dont i have a friend with an ultra lite mmummmlmimilllhllllw ilillllljiiiyilll economist sun the tribune weekender bruce annan publisher 9 heritage rd markham l3p 1m3 2942200 4959440 6402100 6492292 published every saturday by metrolanci printing publishing and distributing al 9 heritage rd markham ontario l3p 1m3 tel 2947200 second class mail registration number 1247 the weekender is one of the metroland group ol suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajax pickering news advertiser the aurora banner branipton guardian the burlington post the burlington weekend post the etobcoke advertiser guardian the georgetown independent the markham economist and sun the milton champion the mississauga news the newmarket era the willowdale mirror oakville beaver oakvihc friday beaver oshawa whithy this week oshawa whitby this weekend the richmond hill liberal thornhill liberal the scarborough mirror the stouffville tribune and vaughan liberal metroland printing publishing and dstnbutmg is a division of harlequin enterprises ltd national sales representative metroland corporate sales 493 1300 jim thomas don bernard edtors editorial department news editorjo ann stevenson reporters greg coates paula crowell steve houston chris shanahan kelly connelly sports editorfrancis king photography siocrd witieveen patricia pappas advertising manager advertising department rejail- tern ber nhardt lome hillicr charles canning joann van maunk lynn moore real estate manager dorothy young classified manager dcbra wcllcr classified- phyllis ritchie joan marshman r stephen mathieu karen heise christine bertram office manage business office shirley lee patti burgess andrea manuel charlene tuckey jennifer hutt dimfboiion manage distribution department sandra marrier jean middlcton barry goodyear doreen deacon irene ramspcroer sandra kilcly rob moncnef lea killer distribution dept 2948244 640p100