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4 - Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Opinion As the new year begins, we all like to wipe the slate clean and look forward, but someone very wise once said " if you don't learn from the past you're bound to repeat it". Consequently, I chose to reflect on some of the things that have happened over the recent past, only to realize there are some things, I just don't understand! Why is it that we were told, "if I'm elected" the G.S.T would be eliminated, there would be no storage of nuclear waste in the Great Lakes basin, and the construction of Darlington generating station would be halted, and yet none of these things came to pass? I don't understand! Why were we told by someone running for council, who was elected, there would be no development in Newcastle beyond the train tracks. Yet not only is that about to happen, a secondary school is proposed to be built next to McDonald's, and across from a pioneer cemetery! I thought there was an epidemic of obesity in young people, and I'm told that taxpayers will be paying for a fence around that cemetery, and I don't think it's to keep those interred there, in! - I don't understand! Since the municipality, and the province both employ planners, and nearly all the land surrounding the junction of Liberty St. and 401, as well Waverly Road and 401, has been developed, where are the clover leafs, required to efficently move all the commuters, living in the subdivisions in the north of Bowmanville, going to be sit- by Rob MacDonald Things I Don't Understand uated? The present interchanges are already grossly inadequate and unsafe, or maybe - I just don't understand! The first law of thermodynamics states, "matter can neither be created nor destroyed", yet as I understand it, those advocating the garbage incinerator, calculate the weight of the ash as garbage, and subtract it from the weight of the unburned garbage. The difference is said to have been diverted from the waste stream, and will comprise a large part of the 70% diversion rate their trying to attain! Even Doug Henning can't make things of that volume disappear, as well as it seems to defy said law, or apparently - I just don't understand! Council meetings are open to the public, so that people can take the opportunity to address or question council about those things, which impact our lives at a local level. Between the bullying that went on during the previous regime and the shortened times that delegates are allowed under the present regime, is this really government by the people, of the people, for the people, or is there something I'm missing? It would seem, I don't understand! A consulting firm was hired to do a feasibility study for Total Hockey. Their data showed this would be a huge financial success, and council forged ahead with what turned out to be, a Total Disaster. I'm a huge hockey fan, but I didn't think that many, of any age, would want to look at photos Mary Lofthouse (L) and Elva Reid (R) bring New Year's wishes to councillors Willie Woo (CL) and Ron Hooper (CR) at the Mayor's Levee held Sunday afternoon at the Courtice Community Complex. of the likes of Newsy Lalonde or Babe Pratt, senior or junior, and as it turns out my suspicions were correct. All the while, the local museums, which actually feature things that touch the lives of the vast majority of local citizenry, get by on shoe string budgets! No one, or no consulting firm, seem to have been held financially accountable for this $2,000,000.00 plus blunder, and somehow I'm supposed to believe this is just! Excuse me, for being an ignoramus, but I don't understand! When you look up the much ballyhooed word "PROGRESS". Mr. Daniel Webster states, "it is that which benefits all mankind". Penicillin, universal health care, water treatment and pas- teurization of milk come to mind! How is it, that the way the word is generally used, has come to mean huge profits and personal gain at the expense of the environment and human rights, for developers, politicians and corporations? If someone figures it out possibly they could explain it to me, because I just don't ---Oh you know!