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The Town of Markham must have set some kind of record for stepping on the toes of special interest groups (dare we say sacred cows) with its shopping mall proposal for the land next to the Thornhill Community Centre. The Town angered the Local Architectural Conservation Ad- visory Committee by not conâ€" sulting it. The Town could be counted upon to raise the hackles of the Society for the Preservation of Historic Thornhill, as it did with its early capitulation on the demolition of Yonge Street now in progress. But it also angered the volunteers who run the York Summit District Boy Scouts, for never taking seriously its requests for a headquarters which could be rented from the town‘ ' The Town has the Thornhill District Lions Club not just con- cerned, but worried that the parking situation will be worse Think about the figures Tossing figures around at the provincial level is a common, everyday event, and most of us read them, shrug our shoulders and continue on to something else. We almost did that with York- Centre MLA Alf Stong’s column this week, but after reading them over two or three times, we sat at our desks with mouths agape. To wit: “The fastest growing budgetary item is the interest on the provincial debt: the Davis years have added $11.1 billion to this debt, which is now costing us $3.8 million a day in interest. This amounts to $1.388 BILLION a year Written another way: “have added $11,100,000,000 to this debt, which is now costing us $3,800,000 a day' in interest. This amounts to $1,388,000,000 a year . . . " Look at the daily interest figure and then think about how much you earn in a week . . . Legion appreciated convention coverage Letters of On behalf of the President. Executive and members of Branch 375, Royal Canadian Legion. it is my pleasure and duty as Convention Chairman It must _ have broken Mary Magdalene's heart when she thought they'd taken Jesus away. But Jesus stood before Mary‘s eyes and He said to her, “Mary.” "They‘ve taken away my Lord.“ There are times when we may feel like Mary. The world has a way of taking away Jesus â€" and it's such a terrible lost feeling when we think the world has succeeded. On behalf of the ’resident. Executive and nembers of Branch 375, Royal Canadian Legion. it 5 my pleasure and duty IS Convention Chairman )f the Host Branch. to District to thank you and your publication for the very _ excellent coverage afforded to us in The Liberal, before. during and following the convention. Easter message Let‘s turn to Jesus and listen how He calmed Mary. Mary did not recognize Jesus at first â€" and yet she thought she knew Him. Are we like Mary 10395 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill L4C 4Y6 Ontario PUBLISHER JOHN c. FERGUS EDITOR non WALLACE PAGE A4 Editorial, Display Classified Circulation Taronto customers Subscvipuon tales. By maul $10.00 pet year In Canada $20.00 per yea: oulsude 04 Canada. By camen 80 cents evevy louv weeks Single copy sales 20 cents No mall delivery where came: serwce exusm, Second Class Mail Reguslvallon Numbev 0190. The contenls, both ednlovial and advemsnng o! The Libetal. Richmond Hill are pvotected by copyvigm and any unaulhovized use is prohibited. .Libéral This parking lot is too expensive VOLUME 101. NUMBER 42 Ron Wallace ~ Edna Lanv Johnston » News Edito: Fred Simpson Sports Edna: Libéral TELEPHONES Magdalene weeping at the tomb; looking at someone we think is a gardener â€" not recognizing Jesus; searching for Him, but fearing He's been taken away? Some people search for Easter Eggs on Easter Day. And yet â€" Mary was searching for Jesus. Easter Day is over. Did you search for Easter Eggs â€" and did you find any? Have you started to search for Jesus or did your heart leave Him in the tomb? Marg Donovan. 366 Browndale Crescent. Richmond Hill 884-81 77 884-1 1 05 8840981 881 3373 than it is now for its major fun- draising event‘ The Town should have the developers upset for not checking into the historical or architectural value of the Burton House before the developers had their designs so firmly in place. It is hard to believe, that Mayor Tony Roman could have been running the town for 10 years without having some idea of the value the people of Thornhill would put in the Burton House. ' r" Did the town staff fail to ask about the value of the Burton House because they did not want to know the answer? It has no place in the plans of the town parks and recreation department which has the responsibility for maintaining it. In fact, the Thornhill Village Artists who might have used it, were discouraged from even bringing their request to c0uncil. Instead, they are faced with trying to restore a more historic but also more decrepit house in Vaughan (The Arnold House). The Burton House does not stand in the way of a new shopping facility. It stands in the way of the entrance to a proposed mall which can be moved (albeit with dif- ficulty and possibly over the dead body of the regional commissioner of engineering.) The Burton House also stands on town property. very expensive to buy, but worth a lot more now‘ The house and the trees and the grass should stay where they are. The $150,000 or so that would be needed to move it could better be spent in restoring the main section of the Burton House, tearing down the additions at the rear and preparing it for public or private use as an annex to the community centre or leased office space. Then Thornhill would have a town square and the proposed shopping >mall would have something to set it off from all the other shopping malls as a nextâ€" door neighbor; The' property is far too valuable to be sold for a parking lot. John C. Fergus, Publisher Ray Padlev Jr. Advemsrng Director Norman Slunden, 7 Production Manager Denis O'Meara - Circulation Director Rose Reynolds 7 Accounls Metrospan Community Newspapers publishes The Richmond HilllThomhill Liberal, The Banner, The Oakville Journal Record. The Halron Consumer, The Mrssissauga Times The Erobiooke Adveniser/Gdardran, The Elobéooke Consumer, The North York Mirror, The North York Corsumer, The Scarboro Mirror The Swrboro Consumer, The Woodbridge Er Vaughan News and The Bolton Enlerprrse .- Wednesday, April 25, 1979 ME TROSPAN METHOSPAN » NORTH DIVISION You will appreciate that the Legion is dedicated to the cause and service of the veteran and their dependents in the community, and that by the medium of the community newspaper we are able to acquaint the public with the work of the organization. You have been most kind in .the past with coverage, but on this Occasion you have delighted us greatly, and we thank you for it. I would be remiss in my responsibilities if I did not request you to personally convey the thanks and appreciation . of our members to two in- dividuals on your staff, Reporter Millie Stewart. and Photographer Bruce Hogg, whose efforts. together with yours, resulted in. and conâ€" tributed to. a highly successful convention. W.M. Collier. Convention Chairman Branch 375. Royal Canadian Legion Richmond Hill :Q C_NA 64 Well gang , . . only one more month to go before election day . . . Yawn! l have been trying to follow the campaign since it began two years ago but . . . each time one of the leaders makes an important speech I am usually busy with more demanding work such as fertilizing the lawn or watching my compost heap compost (or whatever it is that it does). I would like to set the record straight . . . I am not against elections and such . . . I just can't stand the long. ex- pensive campaigns. Maybe we in the media are at fault. If the reporters who are following the party heads would only concentrate on the real issues then we would be able to open a paper, turn on the radio or sit in front of the boob tube and scarcely hear a thing about the elections. If you can convince me that three men can cross Canada several times in 60 days and make about a thousand speeches without once repeating themselves then I'll go along with the whole thing. A few months ago the council members and staff of the Town of Richmond Hill became involved in discussing the pros and cons of allowing a $5,000 grant to a group called “Young Life". The amount of this grant stirred up a controversy among residents “Wfial is Young Life?" “Who do they serve?" “What do they_ teach?" “Why should they get more in grants than other groups?“ “Are they duplicating other services already receiving grants from the town?” i . and many more questions came to the councillors, this newspaper office and myself. As I strongly believe the responsibility of any community newspaper is to find the answers to such questions, I began trying to find out why In black and white. solid print, it is reasonably easy to pin down the organization. Young Life is a non- denominational Christian organization offering counselling and fellowship to high school age children. There is one paid member on staff seven volunteer committee mem It is a world wide organization .hat has been in Richmond Hill for seven years. tho. what. wEere,'whâ€"en and By SHAARON HAY Liberal Staff Writer The story behind Young Life Another one bites the dust LIBERAL SPRINKLINGS Let's cut out the baloney Instead we are constantly bombarded with a whole lot of drivel that, for the most part. has about as much significance to the real issues as does Raquel Welch lecturing students at Richmond Hill High on the economic future of Batswana Land. WE PAY FOR IT You see. . .the real reason that I am so upset about the thing is that you and I are footing the bill {qr most_of this. Howsabout instead, we just have Parliament dissolved . . . an election dateset. ‘ .candidates named. . .one local TV (and radio) debate . . . one gloves off National Debate . . . and then . . . we vote. Just think of it. . .no renting of halls and big meals . . . no chartering of expensive jets to fly all over heck’s- half-acre . . . no kissing of babies and horses . . . no delays at major sports events and shows while the Rt, Hon. So and So is introduced . . . and no baloney that fills the gaps between solid facts hers to guide, offer support and raise funds for the organization and about ten young adult volunteer leaders who organize and lead weekly meetings and do "contact work" in the schools. INFORMAL MEETINGS Meetings are informal, they are held each week in a Young Life member‘s home and consist of time spent singing “meaningful” and “appropriate” songs, followed by a “talk” by one of the volunteer leaders. Paul Jones, the one paid leader goes into the schools each day with two or three of the volunteer leaders, to talk with the kids. Easy Piece of cake nothing to it . . . But, I‘ve found out Young Life is so very much more. When you talk to anyone who is familiar with the group, either by attending, leading. having a son or daughter in Young Life or sup- porting it in any way, it is possible to see the real long-term value of such an organization. Thege “adult volunteer leaders” I told you about. are actually dedicated. committed young people. They have grown up through Young Life and have gone on in school or in the business world . . . but they are still close enough to remember what it was like to be young and curious and groping for By BOB RICE Piece of cake SHEER BLISS Wouldn‘t it be sheer bliss to be able to sit back in the evening, after a long, hard day of slaying dragons. and turn on the one‘eyed monster and watch a newscast full~of everyday news such as earthquakes, floods and crime and not have to stare at the kisser of some politician spouting off about GNP, FLQ or PET? Imagine being able to drive up your own street to the waiting arms of your loving family and being able to pass green lawns and awakening flowers instead of 50 election signs. Can you picture being able to go to the mall for your weekly shopping without some smiling soul shoving a bunch of campaign literature into your hand . . . whether you want it or not? .VV JV Think of all the money that you and I can save by pressing these folk to cut down on the length of the electioneering and all of the doodads that go with it. "With summer fast apprbaching I would sure as heck rather put the bucks into my own backyard than into the something firm to hold on to in this transient world of ours. When Paul and these volunteers go into the schools, they call it "contact work“. What it really is A . . or can be . . . is an informal type of counselling in an atmosphere of trust and friendship. From what I can see, probably a great deal of what these people are trying to do is let the kids know adults care and are willing to spend time talking to them and trying to understand their problems. ESTABLISH FRIENDSHIPS They try to establish unconditional friendships and open up the lines of communication. Sometimes all kids need is someone to talk to. It seems that all directly associated with Young Life are guided by the belief that adolescence is a critical time in life and is getting increasingly more difficult in our modern world‘ They believe it helps to have someone who is ready to help, in any way possible. and Young Life seems to be the group that is willing to be there. Many churches in town, the Family Y and Family Life in Rich- mond Hill offer activity programs and counselling to these same kids. Young Life‘s apparent success might just be that leaders make themselves available by going to the young people rather than waiting for the problem to get big enough the troubled must seek them out. ' It is difficult to capture and pin down the value of an organization like Young Life in our community. Results are rather intangible. long term â€"- 10 or 20 years down the road. I feel all the organizations in town. the Family Y, Family Life, the town Parks and Recreation, Big Brothers, lhe churches and many many more all need our support â€" and not just financially. Which brings me to the point of all this which is my reaction to Young Life. to $5,000 of the taxpayers‘ money_ WURTHWHILE I think Young Life is doing something very worthwhile with the kids and the people involved are all fine human beings. Heavy étuff . . . but I‘m sure you all agree. federal coffers in Ottawa and I‘m darn certain that a whole lot of people agree with me. Five thousand dollars is a lot of money, but probably a small sum if it helps any youth formulate a strong and straight framework for their life. So a . . c’mon ladies and gentlemen . . . enough is enough. Right now I am at the point that I would vote for any candidate who would state his (or her) aims . . . stand by those beliefs and then leave me alone to make up my mind, without benefit of buttons, booze or billboards. on May 22. Is Rice against the democratic system. you may ask? No way Jose, just the needless expense. By the way. . .that reminds me. . . I‘d better finish up this column right now and get moving . . . I have a ten o'clock appointment with my ac- countant to go over my tax return. The 01‘ Millpond Philosopher once said . . . “vote for the man, not the party . . 7. unless you really had a good iimé at the party!‘ ENOUGH IS ENOUGH