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kmmwmmumbmwmmm998 vtlyist the tribune- saturday february 14 1998 vol 14 no 7 the tribune is a member of the ontario press council 905 6402100 9056405477 email thetribistarca editorial get off the couch for physically active and inactive canadians theres good news and bad news the good news is that more of us have been get ting enough daily exercise to stay healthy the bad news is that the rest of us were couch potatoes and putting an everincreasing strain on our medical services and risk to our lives the 1997 physical activity benchmarks report was released last month by the canadian fitness and lifestyle research insti tute it concluded that too many canadians of all ages remain inactive posing a threat to their own health and a drain on our health care services the good news more of us are getting into the healthy activi ty habit every year the number of canadians active enough to reduce the risk of heart attack obesity back pain depression tension and a myriad of chronic diseases has almost doubled from 21 per cent in 1981 to 37 per cent in 1995 what does healthy activity mean its the equivalent of walking for about one hour throughout the day whether thats taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work or running between laundry room and kitchen and the school bus stop at home while the report shows that in every province of canada more residents are becoming active yet in every province at least six in 10 adults were still not active enough heart disease is the number one cause of premature death for men the number two cause for women one quarter of canadi ans over 65 have heart problems estimates show the annual cost of treating heart disease caused in part by sedentary living is 2325 million costs for drugs doctors and hospital stays get off the couch walk the dog youll feel and look better have more energy and handle stress better what have you got to lose this copper town had a heart of gold i dont know how senor el nino has wormed his way into your life this winter but for me and my neighbours he has brought rain rain rain rain and just when we thought the heavens couldnt possibly harbour another drop of moisture a little more rain about two weeks ago i decided to run for it i wasnlt asking for much i just wanted to go somewhere i didnt have to dodge puddles wear a raincoat or carry an umbrella so i caught a plane to scottsdale arizona which at first glance seemed to be a huge mistake because i dont golf scottsdale as near as j can reck on consists of 833 golf courses sur rounded by some really poor farmland not golfing in scottsdale is like not shopping in the west edmonton mall you want to know how many tourists visited scottsdale arizona last year six point four million it helps if you visualize that as one point six million foursomes and a dan gerouslyhigh concentration of plaid pants so scottsdale wasntfor me and it didnt take me long to figure that out still the sun was shining the weather was shirtsleeve warm and when i muttered the word umbrella basic black arthur black the natives looked at me like i was speaking ukrainian so i knew heaven couldnt be too faraway i rented a ford capri pointed the hood ornament away from downtown scottsdale and headed for the desert two hours later i found myself in a rustic old mining town 2 000 feet up the side of a mountain the town is made up of rickety dickensian-look- ing buildings and houses some of them on stiltsy hard to believe that almost a century ago this town was the fifthlargest city in the whole state of arizona with churches schools mansions even an opera house copper was the reason and a canuck was the catalyst james s rawhide jimmy douglas cut his teeth on cop per mining in northern ontario and made it to the arizona mountains in time to cash in on what became known as the billion dollar copper camp it was a rich town a very rich town in 1 929 a year when the rest of the world was staring bankruptcy in the face 29 million worth of ore came outof just one mine and more than 15000 people called this place home today its fighting not to become a ghost town what happened two things both of them tough for any town to overcome first the bottom fell out of the copper market and sec ondly the town ran out of copper a headline in a phoenix newspaper of jan 30 1953 said it all end- comes to famed mining camp last ore dragged from holes one of arizonas great mining camps will die as a mjn- ing town in about two months the newspaper story was accurate the town did die as a mining town but something some lizardcacjus toughness in its heart refused to let it die completely- the population shrank steadily within 10 years more than 10000 people had left by 1953 fewer than 100 people lived there full time but the town refused to roll over and die outright or even change very much it still had the hulks of its oncestate ly mansions it still had those wildly canted streets and almost gothic wood en buildings perched like swallows nests on the mountain wall kind of a living museum if you like which is pretty much what the town has become you can take walk- ing tours or driving tours you can also shop in a dozen or so tourist shops that offer higherthanaverage quality ari zona arts and crafts the town is pretty much unspoiled the scenery is unlittered by calvin klein billboards or large golden arch es and as far as i can tell the spec tacular sunset i watched from a coffee shop in the centre of town that evening wasnt sponsored by anybody warm in the daytime chilly at night sunshine all day long it was a nice break for a winterweary canuck i dont know that iil ever get back to that town again but id like to and id like it even better if i found it just the way i left it no tour buses no holi day inns no taco bells of course its not going to stay unspoiled if idiots like me keep writing about it and singing its praises fortunately 1 forgot to mention its name youths had no respect for snowboarders disgrace dear editor lam responding to your editorial on feb 12 athlete robbed i would like to share with you the reaction of some canadian sports fans to the ross rebagliati medal situation i teach grade 6 at glad park public school in stouffville as part of our language arts class i asked the stu dents for their opinions in this affair ie ross rebagliati winning losing and then regaining the gold medal letters i was most impressed with their reactions almost unanimously they feltthat he should not have had the gold medal reinstated their reason ing was well thought out and what they had to say is important unlike your editorial they felt that what athletes who arc supported by canadian funds do in their spare time is important if they are going to rep resent canada their reasoning was very simple marijuana is an illegal substance and ross should not have been smoking it ever he should not have done anything that would put his winning into jeopardy or that would embarrass his country tpfully appreciate the full impact of thisrjudgment you should know that at least half of these students are avid beginning snowboarders themselves my thinking as i went into this exer- cise was that they would have been as indignant as your editorial as i lis tened to them their arguments were weilinformed and well expressed they had no respect for this young per son who had in the words of one stu dent disgraced his country another perspective from another age group gerrie storr glad park p s stouffville stouffville tribune weekender a metroland community newspaper patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief tracy kibble editor debra wejier 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 news 9056402100 retail sales 905 0402100 classifieds 905 6402874 d 905 6402100 imflx f 905 6405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont 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