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bbagoagggbbbm p 4 the tribune thursday may 22 1997 st thursday may 22 1997 vol 109 no 24 the tribune opinions send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial towns deserve more information on casino plans the provincial government is in a headlong rush to get permanent charity casinos up and running in ontario as soon as possible the process is moving far too quickly however and municipalities and the people who live in them need a much better explanation of whats happening at the moment there seems to be little hard information on exactly where these casinos will be located or who will be operating them this simply isnt good enough the residents of a community have an absolute right to tell the province to take its casino and stick it somewhere else but if the toronto megacity and the way it was rammed through is any sort of example it would appear the deci sion on casinos has already been made ontario is turning into some sort of strange nevada of the north a lot of towns in this province are being asked to shake hands with the devil when it comes to these casi nos we deserve more information windshield speck reveals a whole universe there is no new thing under the sun ecclesiastes 19 well begging your par don o learned scribes but there is one brand new thing under the sun a whole new science in fact mark hostetler invented it its called splatology hostetler is an entomolo gist with the department of zoology at the university of florida that means he collects and studies insects what separates hostetler from his buggrubbing col leagues is where he collects bugs hostetler scrapes his specimens off windshields basic black arthur black or collects whats left of them after theyve gone splat hence the name splatol ogy his favorite collecting ground hostetlers oldu- vai gorge if you will is the main bus terminal in gainesville florida thats where the big greyhounds roll in after driving hun dreds of miles across the american south that would be the amer ican insectinfested south greyhound buses have windshields as big as pool tables which means that on any given run those buses urn interface with an awful lot of bugs during some months hostetler recalls the front end was practically covered with insects i had a fantastic time collecting specimens not that he didnt turn a few heads in the gainesville bus terminal while he was out there crawling around the front ends of greyhounds clutch ing his tweezers and his specimen jars hostetler new resident impressed with car dealers kindness dear editor a local car dealers motto is come as a customer leave as a friend however in my eyes it should read come as a stranger leave as a friend last weekend i experienced car problems i had to conduct a very large meeting on monday in markham and was afraid to drive that far i turned into stouffville chrysler this lousy monday morning and asked for their help not only did they take time to diag nose my problem but they also filled up my almost empty transmission oil then took the car for a spin to make sure it was ok letters when i asked for the bill i was told not to worry well catch you next time i must add that i am new in town and was a complete stranger walking off the street to these good samaritans only in small town canada can one experience such kindness and trust many thanks indeed to peter and staff consider changing your motto your new friend margaret bibby stouffville i remembers one kid tugging at his mothers arm and asking mommy why is that man scraping bugs off the windshield is he crazy crazy no definitely touched hostetler undeni ably caught the bug bug he decided that the gainesville bus terminal wasnt enough he had to go out there in the north american wilderness and meet those insects on their own turf and so in the summer of 94 hostetler set out on a crosscontinent tour in his 1984 honda specially rigged up with a catch sheet to trap the carcasses of insects that ricocheted off his windshield hostetler piloted his mobile bug catcher from florida up to massachu setts then west to detroit and chicago up to south dakota across to seattle north to vancouver and then down to california across the southern us and back to florida he drove through moun tains and prairies through swamplands and even sub urbs as you can imagine he hit a lot of bugs along the way so many in fact that they inspired a book it called that gunk on your gar and its dedicated to the proposition that all those bugs that go splat on your windshield are worth more than a muttered curse and quick spritz with the windshield washer for one thing according to hostetler each bug pro duces its own speciesdis tinctive splat mosquitoes usually leave a small greyblack dot if theres a spot of blood in it congratulations youve taken out a female mosqui to theyre the ones who bite us humans butterflies and moths go out with a thick white or yellow gunky splat and thats enough of that suffice to say that hostetler has compiled characteristic bugsplat images for 25 different kinds of insects ranging from flying ants to mole crickets and why why would a guy choose to spend his spare time analyzing insect impact patterns on windshields when he could be running for office selling crack or writing advertising copy for hemorrhoid creams a nature writer by the name of fred kauffman puts it perfectly hostetler shows that gunk is not junk says kauffman but a whole universe of small and fascinating creatures we get to know all about the unlikely hitchhikers we collect on long car trips exactly hostetlers book opens your eyes to the uni verse within that speck on the windshield stouffville tribune patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief alan shackleton editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us eraueiumt northumberland news north york mirror onfcviuo s rmiirli thtu icabit coke qutrdunj goorgtwwu ladu- urodontmclofj frcfl prenn isek uarkjum sronomlst a 6bj letters policy the tribune welcomes your letters to the editor please keep letters to no more than 300 words note that letters may be edited for space libel spelling grammar while we endeavor to print as many letters as possible we regret that not all let ters may be printed