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'- Thé Celdedah Chéa"lon, Frld!!y Aprfl 23'1 9U <OPINION Box 248, 191 Main Se. E., Mitton, Ont. L9T 4N9 (905) 878-2341 Editorial Fax: 878-4943 Advertising Fax: 876-2364 Classified: 875-3300 Ian Oliver Publisher Neil Oliver Assaciate Publisher Bill Begin General Manager Rob Kelly Editrr Karen Crosa Circalaion Manager Teri Cansa Office Manager Tien Coles Production Manager The Canadian Champion, pubiished every Tuesday and Friday at 191 Main St. E., Milton, Ont., L9T 4N9 (Box 248), is one of The Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distriboting Ltd. group ot sub- urban companies which includes: Ajax / Pickering News Attvertiser; Alliston Heraid/Courier: Barrie Advance; Brampton Guardian; Buriington Post; City Parent: Coiiingwood 1 Wasaga Connection; East York Mirror; Etobicoke Goardian; Georgetown Independentl Acton Free Press; Kingston This Week; Lindsay This Week; Markham Economiot & Sun: Midland / Penetanguiohene Mirror: Missiosauga News; Newmurket I Aurora tra Banner: Northumberland News; North York Mirror; Oaknilie Beuver; Orilia Toduy: Oshawa I Whitby / Ciaringeon I Port Perry This Week; Peterborough This Week; Richmnd Hill I Thornhili I Vaaghan Liberai; Scurborough Mirror: Unbridge I Stouffoille Tribune; Today's Seniors. Advertising os uccepted on the condition that, in the ent of typograptical error, Chat portion of the advertioing spuce occe- pied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance tor signature, witi not be charged tor, but the balance ot the advertisement wiil be paid tor ut the applicable rute. The pubtisher resernifo the right t0 cutegorize advertisemento or dectine. Astute move by chair Joyce Savoline is making an astute political move by pushing a Halton-wide vote for regional chair. Until now, the regional chair has been basically appointed through a straw poil of two dozen regional counicillors early in each counicil termn. That meant that the position carried no popular mandate whatso- ever. It also meant that the regional chair served largely at the discretion of his or her counicil colleagues, since they could make or break the chair at the beginning of each term. Now Ms Savoline is working on giving the job more cachet, but flot primarily for the above-stated reason, although it is important that she become truly a peer with Halton's four popularly-elected mayors. No, Ms Savoline's real motivation is likely to give the chair and regional govemment much added credibility to fend off the potential dismantling of regional govemrment. Milton-area MPP Ted Chudleigh, for example, has made no secret of the fact he would like to see regional governmrrent evaporate. Ms Savoline wants no part of that, and does not want to be usurped by a GTA services board either, as could easily happen. If she has a popular mandate, it will be much harder to dismiss hier. People don't like it if they vote someone into an office and then that office disappears through fiat of some distant body, say in Queen's Park. Rob Kelly Nasty littie virus hai OUR READERS WRITE A wards toi Ruth-A nn and company are well-deserved Dear Editor: also won awards. That is almost an under I read witb great intereat an article in the April 16 As a mother, I would expresa my thani edition of 'Me Canadian Champion. Ruth-Ann for ail ber bard work witb ail My daugbter Meaghan je one of Ruth-Ann Hill' s demanda much from tbem, but in doingt dance studentu an tbe competitive company. tbem to their potentiel. As a parent, I cannot say enough about the dedica- As a mother, I like that. tion tbat Rutb-Ann bas sbown to ber students. Thank you for printing the article abo One of the very reasons she won thoae awarda is She deserves the recognition. because abe demande excellence from ber students. mau Thee article concluded by saying that many othero been terrorizing town cpublicly to the girls. Sbe so she pushes ut Rutb-Ann. -een Boland Milton There are some seriously virulent little virus thinge out there lately. Actually, you're probably not supposed to say "virulent virus" because it's tike saying "rosy rose." Wbatever. Hope I don't get sued. Many people, including me, bave been etrick- en witb a singularly persistent, obnoxious bug that cruises tIse bloodstream on a stolen, cbopped Harley Davidson. Lt stops et virus bars tbrougbout the body, drinks too mucb, starta fegbts witb other bugs, cleans a few dlocks belonging to cowering anti- bodies Iiding under tablee, then rages on to rape, boot and pillage elsewbere. This virus mutetes, dieguses itaelf, disappears, laya low, then cornes back in a few weeks to rampage law-abiding body parts aIl over agaen. I won't bore you witb the details. Sore tbroat, blah, bIaIs, turne into a buncb of other stuif. You know anyway, since if it basn't bappened to you it likely bas to aomnebody you know. I rarely go to the doctor or take medicine, clinging to the forlorn hope that riding out an ilI- nees actually mekes you stronger in the long mun aince you develop some measure of immunity to it naturaily. But this tbing was sucb a pain, eapecially wben it storrned back afier e tbree-week hiatus, that I went to a local physician on Tueoday. Everyone je invariebly nice wben you visit a doctor. The nurses are more tban pleasant and the MD usually fortbcorning and cheerful. The main probleru I bave witb pbysicians je tbe wait- ing around tbing. Wben you see a doctor, usually about 90 per cent of the time involved witb the visit ia sitting in a waiting rooru (or waiting in a oitting moom). Only about 10 per cent is getting to see tbe medie, and baîf of tbat je spent twiddling your tbumbs in that little bootb before the doc shows up from down thse hall. But this day wasn't bad et ail, and tbey bad a good golf magazine in the coffee table pile. Lt was a welcome diversion fromn Oprah Winfrey, wbo was holding court and eveeybody else in the room's attention thanke to ber scintillating theme of 'Family Black Sbeep People', wbicb waa replete witb tearful confessions and lots of other time-waeting nonsense, more even than in this column. Having attained the inner eanctum, and in tbumb twiddling mode, I oaw an ominous poster on thse wall indicating that thse office was an 'antibiotie free zone' or worde to a generally similar effeet. This meant that antibiotice, wbicb don't work againet viral afflictions anywey, were not going to be prescribed unlees you were delirioux and quoting from 'Moby Dick' or ainging thse theme fmom 'Gilligan's Island'. You know ... basically frathing et the moutb Rob Kelly and raving in mindlesa, tuneleos rbyme; 'TIhis je the tale of tIse castaways, Tbey're bere for a long long time, tbey bave to make the beet of thinge, it's an uphill climb" ... Ta that last bine nigbt? I don't know but I feel a tremor of delirium com- ing on. So. Witb notbing to do in the doctor' a little examining moom, you only bave a few options. You can play witb wbatever junk je in the cubi- cIe. You can grab your file from the littie door shelf and read it, or you cen weigb youreelf, aince everyone assumes that a doctor'a scale muet be rigbt on. I tbink it'a rude to play witb other people's stuff. So I leave wbxtever instrumente are there alone. I always weigb myself as a bencbmark againat wbicb to judge cheapo bathroom scalen. Oh, and I read the folders the doctors bave written up about me, or et least I bave donc. Altbougb I'm sure tbet'a coneidered enormously rude too. But wbat tbe bell. It's about you, rigbt? Actually, one time a doctor I know came strid- ing in wbile I waa reading the file and be looked kind of embarraased. But wbat else ix there to do? By thia time patient patience is pretty well exbausted. And I'm sure be doesn't want me pleying witb bis medicel otuff. So the doc cornes in and basically tells me tbet tbere's notbing be can do because the vinus will juat bave to mun its course. And boy do you want to know from sick? 1' ve been sick eigbt times this year, exys the medicine man, a pleasant relatively new fellow in town wbose name je Bnian, I tbink. I don't really know since be's sort of filling in for somebody else, if I'mn keeping track rigbt, and I'm probably not. This guy seeme to bave a pretty responsible attitude, since be' s not about to over-prescribe on any front, and seema genuinely concemned about bugs developing immunity to antibiotica. But in a way you look for a retumn to the good old days, wben tbey'd load you up witb some prescription no matter wbet you bed junt in case their lateat phermaceutical concoction could knock the bell out your rogue micro-organism. Better living tbrougb cbemistry, that was tbe ticket then. These days you bave to tougb it out, wbicb ectsually migbt be a lot more like the good old days than somne of us would case to remean- ber. *1--