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WHITBY FREE PRESS,WEDNESDAY,JANUARY 22,1986 PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson THE CROW'S NEST TENANT by Michael Knell A few thoughts for the week Well, if you haven't guessed it by now I don't have much to say this week. Ail I can give you is yet another collection of random thoughts. WELL DONE, NIGEL! A warm round of applause and a hearty well done to Nigel Schilling, this year's winner of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce's Peter Perry Award as the town's outstanding citizen of 1985. It's been my pleasure to have known Nigel for several years and I must remark that his selection by the chamber's nomination committee was a most deserved one. While Nigel has been involved in a host of community activities over the past Lord-knows-how-many years, the things I appreciate him for most are his con- tributions to Durham College. Nigel sat on the Board of Governors for six years, the last year he was chairman. He believes in the college and worked hard to ensure that it would continue to meet the needs of students in this area. And on top of all that, he ain't a half-bad lawyer either. Congratulations, Nigel. WE ALL NEED A DAYOFREST We've been hearing a bunch of hooey recently about the Sunday closing laws. The government has promised a review of the statute and a bunch of greedy businessmen continue to open their doors in violation of the law. In fact, some of these zealots have quite a collection of tickets. I don't know how you feel but I think there should be a day of rest. A day when business is not conducted. When the stores aren't open. When life takes a slightly, but noticeable, slower pace. What is wrong with that? I mean are we so gung-ho on money, money, money that we ignor civility? Do we really need the stores to be open on Sundays, or Saturdays or whatever. For me, this issue isn't one of religious preferences. It's a matter of civilized behaviour. Everyone needs a day to recharge their bat- teries, to be with their families, to romp in the park or to just bum-out. And if we all did on the same day, we might start talking to our neighbours again and who knows where that will lead us? Now, don't get me wrong. I don't think we should shut everything down. I mean the hospitals should stay open. The firemen and the police will still be needed. Other than that, we should all stay home. Surely, six days is enough time to conduct all our business and buy all the things we need to maintain the lifestyle we have chosen for ourselves. A day of rest. Boy, what a civil idea. I hope the government starts enforcing the law and brings back that measure of civility we so urgently need. A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE Attorney General Ian Scott lost his halo last week. It seems he has given his blessing to the crazy notion that a known child molester should receive only a suspended sentence. It seems this pervert got off easy because both the Crown Attorney and the defense agreed to it. Well, if I was Mr. Scott the first thing I would do is fire that Crown Attorney, lay a formal complaint against the defense lawyer before the Upper Canada Law Society and impeach the judge who went along with this outrage for misfeasance. Furthermore, if I was Premier David Peterson I would be giving serious thought to my Attorney General's future. Can the premier expect any decent person to respect the Attorney General after the comments he made after the sentence was announced the other day? Scott muttered something about the sentence being acceptable because the child wasn't molested very long. Is that. really a consideration? This man committed a crime against an innocent child. For that, the full force of the law should be brought to bear. What we witnessed last week was a blatant and stupid miscarriage of justice carried out by four lawyers who have forgotten that their first responsibility is to the people of this province and to victims of crime. They are there to ensure that justice is done and that it is not for them to make it a sick joke. JOE DRUMM'S OTHER BIG JOB East Ward Councillor Joe Drumm has been re-elected (for the third, or is it the fourth?, time) chairman of the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA). Most of us think of the authority as this area's largest park operator. While that is partially true, it gives only a small insight into CLOCA's mandate. CLOCA's primary responsibility is watershed management and the preser- vation of hazard land. There are two reasons for this: one is the preservation and protection of our environment and the other is to ensure good planning. That is, it's CLOCA's job to ensure developers don't build houses on lands that flood with the spring run-off. Now that I no longer have to remain completely objective, I think Drumm's done a top notch job as CLOCA chairman. Whitby's Fighting Irishman has the temperment and the panache to take on the country's biggest developers and make them eat their own words. He also loves the job and is genuinely in- terested in CLOCA's work. It is something he believes in and will fight for vigorously and loudly when it suits him or when the situation demands it. CLOCA does a big job, an important job. Far too often, it goes unrecognized and unheeded by other levels of government. Being chairman is a tough job. Well, I'm glad to see they got themselves a tough man to do it. Well, like they say at the end of Looney Tunes...That's all, folks! WITH OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan With the doctors across Ontario ready to go to jail for the right to make money, this would not be the week to get sick. I had a rare chance to get to the real centre of this difficulty when I found myself locked in conver- sation with a doctor. His anger surprised even me. "It's war!" he cried. "War! And in case this is a long war, we're now locked behind closed cubicles in our offices, plotting. Several new weapons are on the drawing board, can be operative within the week." "You mean," he was asked, "that there's more going on than just the doctors going home at 5 p.m.?" "Officially, that's health care accessibility week," he said. "But that's just a start. The public should know we mean business on this one." "You mean..." "That's right. Cold bed pans could become the prescription of the week. Just imagine: every patient in the province being prescribed 15 minutes on a cold bed pan, four times a day." "The mind boggies," he continued. "But we have even more weapons now under study." "Like the icy stethoscope?" "Dear, dear lad. We've been using that for years, just to keep the public on its toes. But the truth is, we've been reserving them mainly for politicians and journalists in recent days. "But for new tactics: any politician unlucky enough to see a doctor this week will be guaranteed a prostate examination, you can bet on that. "And I am sure, that should David Peterson be feeling a bit peckish this week, any doctor in the province would highly recommend a fleet enema." "I see. Sort of the enema of the people." "Or public enema number one." "And I suppose," I said, "that this would not be the week for Bob Rae to get his yearly physical." "I was rather hoping he would," said the good doctor. "I am sure there's nothing wrong with him that an upper GI series with a barium enema would not improve. Of course, if right after the enema he got caught in one of those cute little gowns, in the bowels of the medical centre, so to speak, far from any washroom..." The doctor looked dreamily off intospace. But he was caught up in his own schemes. "The piece de resistance, you might say," he said, his eyes glazing over, "would be reserved for Health Minister Murray Elston..." "And that is?" He rubbed his hands in glee. "Should by any fluke he come in this week for any reason, we've got just the setup." He dissolved into giggles and it took me some time to get him settled down. "Please go on," I said. "Sorry about that. Anyway, when Elston comes in, the first thing we'll do, to make sure his blood pressure is right up there, will be to present him with an extra bill or two. "Then we'll give him the old doctors stew. That's when the doctor finally gets you out of the waiting room and into one of the cubicles. To wait. Alone. "After Elston has received his extra bill, and is standing there, stripped, alone, we'll send in Dr. Bette Stephenson to do a rectal examination." I told him that few would forget that. "But aren't you being a bit childish about this? I mean, all these schemes sound like schoolboy bravado. You know the sort: What would you do if you saw a hippo walking down the street?" He eyed me with raised eyebrows. "We'll extra bill everybody. We'll resign." A third person who had been listening to ail this stepped forward, waving his cane. "And who do you think will handle ail this paperwork, eh? You think you're going to resign to? Who's going to handle all your extra billings?" "Well, the usual..." "Well, the usual amounts to the public service. And don't let me remind you that we didn't get much support for doctors in any of our troubles over the past Tory years. "You want to withdraw from OHIP? Go ahead. SEE PG. 19