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TOt EDA WED MARCH Campaign Deserves Help This week members of the Newmarket Cancer Unit and affiliated branches at Mount Albert Keswick and Sutton start the annual canvass to raise funds for the continuation of the fight against cancer The campaign runs throughout the month of April and a similar effort spearheaded by the Aurora Unit also moves ahead in the southern portion of the North York area There is no single answer to cancer in the sense that a cure is likely to be announced any day from a Canadian laboratory but this does not deter doctors and scientists from doing all possible to fight the dread disease Research in any field is a costly business and in order to sustain the laboratory work which continually on in the seeking of a cure for cancer more money must be made available We my not know where or when cancer might strike but ait should An Optimistic Sign The recent announcement on transportation in Ontario by JIcNaughton Minister of Highways could lead to a more optimistic view of a commuter train system in York County in the future Speaking of the Burlington to commuter train system which is due to start next year Mr stated that heavy use of the system could decide the fate of future expressways in the province If commuters make good use of the trains into the city it could mean that this mode of transportation could assume a much bigger role and expressways could become secondary One statement by the Minister could have a bearing on recent presented by delegates from North York Mr said If we can persuade enough people to use the new transportation system then all major urban centres in Ontario will eventually be served by com- muter trains Cost and upkeep of major expressways is fantastic and there is little doubt that a successful commuter system could result in a great economic saving to the people of Ontario Perhaps the Department would not consider Newmarket a major urban centre but there is no doubt that Newmarket and Aurora could between them provide a great amount of daily commuters from a big percentage of those who now dread the twice a day frustration of driv ing in and out of the Metro area Out On A Limb This could be the situatiou with members of Whitchurch Township council at the moment as they apparently have gone way out on a limb In contravention of their own Zoning Bylaw council will permit the erection of a house on a 10acre lot that is not serviced by a standard township road The Zoning Bylaw which has Ontario Municipal Board support was implemented to avoid the very thing which council now approves With such a precedent now established it is within the bounds of possibility that the township could lie literally inundated with requests for build ing permits for house- almost of their proposed location Having now approved one request council may now find there is no choice but to provide a road to the house in question Regardless of how much assessment this structure might bring the cost of even a very short stretch of road will probably absorb tax revenue for several years Rescinding the present bylaw or bringing in some amendments to ensure that all applicants for building permits get equal treatment would to be the indicated move Aiming to please is one thing but such must be tempered with good judgment and individual merits could have a bearing on a specific situation SUGAR AND SPICE by Bill Smiley The Season For Snarling Ever have a day when you feel depressed even surly with no ap parent reason Thats the way I am today Usually a sweettempered lova ble chap I feel right now like kick ing the crutches out from under some old gentleman trying to get across the street before the light changes But after a wild look around to see if theres something I could destroy without making my wife sore like maybe a paper cup Ive discovered the source of my vile mood There they sit stacked about the floor of my study those piles of trivia on which Ive spent the past eight hours with no obvious change in their attitude Exam pap- Marking exam papers is I guess good for he soul Its about the only thing il is good for Its hard on the eyes the nerves the tail- bone and the temper But it has a effect on the ego Its a little like trying to pull in your stomach and find ing that your chest doesnt go out any more Or catching that first horrible glimpse of the naked bald spot which you thought was mere ly a thinning on top Yes its humbling You have begun to build up with no real- ly good reason tint havent been fired the idea that youre an excellent if not outstand ing teacher thing Zero You have merely com pounded their ignorance You have only confused the simple t philosophies they have acquired from television hootenanies Mad magazine and the poolroom Some young and tender teach ers faced with this shattering mo ment have been known to turn green rush to the school hoard offer their resignations and even in drastic cases attempt to pay back the salaries they have accept ed since September For the older tougher teach ers it is not quite such a trau matic experience Oh they may swear a bit tear their hair a bit and froth slightly at the mouth But they do not offer to return their salaries The last known case of this among older teachers was The more experienced teachers accept this disillusionment as they do the changing of the seasons They know that by some magic alchemy of spring Easter parental pre sure and three months of unrelenting labor on their own parts it will be all sort ed out by June and most of the kids will advance a grade And it must be admitted that marking exams is not unmitigat ed misery It has its moments On several occasions responding to peals of maniacal laughter from my study my wife has dashed up the stairs ready to call the boys in the white coats Theres the student who tries the shotgun approach Scatter your gems as widely as possible and youre bound to hit something right One such in a recent history mm identified John Rockefel ler thus He was a Prime Minister the labor movement The rumble heard at the time was John D trying to argue his way back to this world so he could strangle the kid Sometimes its not funny On a recent exam junior students were asked to pick the right verh from this sentence They have drunk drank all the water A little blonde girl with troubled eyes chose drank because as she pointed out Drunk is- not a verb Its a noun She had good reason for her answer Her father Is one of Funny how in Ontario you get a sharp freeze opening the cottage and heavy snow just after welter of confusion comes the sud den stab of pure refreshing de light the discovery of an original pciLCptue mind trying to sense out of all this nonsense Its like finding a solid piece of ground in a swamp a cool spring in ttic Thats the moment when the poor old teacher is honked once again by that most irritating of nuisances faith in the future of human race And lku but with a lighter heart he bows his weary head once more over the wasteland of words looking for the diamond in the coal nunc THIS WEEK AND NEXT By Ray Hanging The Innocent The debate on capital punish merit scheduled for Parliament this week came by an ironic twist of fate just as serious doubt was cast on the murder conviction of a boy who may be innocent of tho crime of which he was accused Steves who the centre of a controversy over whether he received a fair trial and was justly convicted was years old when he was sentenced to hang for the sex killing of Harper The boys death sentence was mercifully commuted to life im prisonment and now at the age of he has spent onethird of his life behind bars Officials at the Collins Bay Penitentiary at Kingston describe him as a model prisoner and in the normal course of events he would probably be paroled in another few years But Steven Truscott doesnt want parole He wants to be clear ed of the crime of which he has always maintained he was Demands for an official inquiry into the case arose after Toronto writer Isabel LeBourdais publish ed a book The Trial of Steven which indicted the whole course of police investigation and rial the Mrs book has con vinced many people including sev eral members of Parliament that Truscott is innocent and was rail roaded to the death cell in an atmo sphere of emotion and revenge which resulted from the terrible crime done to Lynne Harper The crime of which Steven Tru was convicted and ori ginally sentenced to hang occur red near Clinton Ont base on the hot evening of June Steven and were children of airmen stationed at the base In her 240page book Mrs Le contended that the trial which followed was a travesty of justice She concluded that police evidence against young Truscott was flimsy that the jury knew he was guilty and convicted him because he couldnt prove his in nocence and that the judge was biased in his charge to the jury The burden of police evidence was that Steven picked up Lynne i de down a highway with her astride the handle bars of his bicy cle and returned alone minutes On such circumstantial evidence Steven was sentenced to lie hanged The burden of proof must nor mally on the prosecution The basis of Canadian justice fs that one must go innocent as long as there is a reasonable doubt of his guilt There must surely have been many doubts in this case and as Orposition leader John said in asking the House of Com mons for an inquiry into the trial last week justice must not only he done it must appear to have been done Justice docs not at this point An inquiry is in order in thi- case because it illustrates again the possibility of sending in nocent people to the gallows Because of Stevens age even barbaric Canada could not stom ach hanging a boy of 14 But what about adults who have been con victed on equally flimsy evidence Equally important if Steven was innocent then the killer of Lynne Harper is still at large There were many facts advanc ed in defense which at this distance appear to have put more than a reasonable doubt on his guilt The autopsy which put the time of death within the span when Steven was with the girl resulted according to Mrs in a tragic and very seri ous medical error The nature of the crime which I will not describe here involved strenuous physical behavior by the killer Yet witness es testified that Steven was com pletely calm and not even sweat- later Mrs book has not I will leave that to an convinced me that Steven is official inquiry But it has convinced me anew that capital punishment serves no useful purpose others as guilty until proven inno cent and there is no doubt thi3 was the attitude in the case the hangman will from time to time fit the noose on the necks of innocent people Letters To The Editor Dear Editor We have heard complaints almost continuously in the sport pages that there is no longer any in hockey at many levels in our local arena that a mere handful of people turn out to watch the youngsters play and the coaches and workers with these lads are getting discouraged One big thing appears to be tacking down there and that is a little portion of heat does this come as an extra or is it con sidered part of the regular can be watched with com fort and interest but let a minor league hockey game start and down goes the thermostat Its a poor excuse to say we used to go night after night and freeze to death to watch a hockey game and the arena used to be packed but those days are gone and the public take it for granted that their entertainment wherever it next winter I think in this way we might attract larger crowds to all events and with a little heat perhaps even some of the fond mothers might come down to watch their offspring become the Bobby Hull of the minors held mi fort of Dear Editor For a country which found itself in an awful government uproar be sadly lacking in interest over the past year or so Take a drive in almost any direc tion and will sec varied and faded and tattered rags flying fioni school flagpoles ser vice stations and motels Never has there been so much desecration of a piece of cloth dc tubed as a national flag Time has proved that the design is ques tionable and the color and dyes sadly lacking It is evidently the flag we are going to have to live with but does it have to be such a sorry sight so often Maple Leaf THE ERA Serving Northern York County Since DAVID I HASKELL Editor SHEPHERD New and Publisher for fay the New two yean ber of Canadian