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( 2 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, August 3,1983 Section Two [ Editorial Comment ) Either Hatch or Get Off Egg After five years of sitting on the same unhatched egg, the Ontario government is plainly demonstrating demonstrating the qualities of a mother hen that doesn't know when to quit. Either that or our provincial leaders leaders are clearly disorganized. The egg is Pine Ridge School. It was phased out as a youth detention centre in the late 1970s. Since then the 100 acre facility northeast of Bowmanville, under the guardianship guardianship of the Ministry of Government Services, has sat abandoned, unused unused and eroding. The Conservative government may consider itself fortunate that the tax paying citizens of the Town of Newcastle have not risen up in disgust protesting the situation. But other than a few light jabs in their bureaucratic ribs, Ministry officials have managed to escape any real heat over the Pine Ridge property. Nonetheless, they are guilty of permitting a prime parcel of land and several brick buildings to gravely deteriorate. The matter has gone beyond the point of excuses. But each time an inquiry regarding the status of the property is made, the government miraculously pulls another alibi out of the bag to support support their lack of action. In September 1982 a communique from the Ministry stated, "these facilities are not so much white elephants which the government can no longer afford, but simply, facilities which the government, at the present time, has no real value for and would rather see other interested interested groups occupy." x This was followed in February 1983 by another letter to a Canadian Statesman reporter which clearly stated, "Because of Pine Ridge's poor physical condition as well as the minimal physical security of the buildings, it was felt that adequate renovation of Pine Ridge would be as costly as rebuilding. Pine Ridge is therefore not one of the plants which we felt should be the subject 1 of any further feasibility studies." But lo and behold, the government government has apparently decided to • • By Peter Parrott ili They shoot doggies, don't they? That might have been the headline over a story last week concerning military research in the U.S. Apparently, there were howls of outrage at the thought of animals, especially dogs, being used to train doctors in the treatment of combat wounds. Seems as though military physicians haven't had much experience in caring for bullet wounds lately; therefore, drugged dogs were to be shot at close range to simulate war casualties. Medical experts could then observe and treat the wounds, after which the animals could be humanely put to sleep. Certainly, this newspaper story has to be one of the most bizarre footnotes to life in our twentieth century. The snarls of rage from canine- lovers in the U.S. were understandable. After all, it's difficult to look at these creatures with wet noses, furry faces, and deep brown eyes and think of them as cannon-fodder. The U.S. defence secretary must have realized how many dog-owning voters there were in the country, because he decided to put this sort of research on a very short leash. However, the more you ponder this shaggy-dog story, the stranger it seems. First of all, in this age of arms negotiations and peace talks, why are members of the military preparing for combat wounds? Do they know something the politicians don't? Moreover, it's odd that the public can be worried about dogs being wounded, yet show little concern about matters such as the war in Afghanistan, fighting in the Middle East, and other battles in trouble spots around the world. It's almost as though the domestic pooch is treated with higher regard than human beings. But that's perhaps understandable. Unlike his ally, man, the pooch seldom does anything more violent than bark at a mailman or chase a cat. He doesn't create cruise missiles, neutron bombs, or chemical warfare. Perhaps the moral of this story goes something like this: War wounds are inhumane to puppy dogs. And they're not a heck of a lot of good for people. If countries and their politicians and generals got that idea through their thick skulls, the world wouldn't be going to the dogs. Or, as the dogs might say, to the humans. $t|e (Kanabian Statesman 623-3303 Durham County's Qreil Family Journal Ealabllahad 12» yean ago lii 1054, Alao Incorporating The Bowmanville News The Newcaell# Independent The Orono News Second class mall registration number 1561 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 62*60 King SI. W,, Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 «LA JOHN M. JAMES Editor --Publisher RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All layout! and competition of advertisements produced by the employees of The Canadian Statesmen, The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permission ol the publishers. $15,00 ■ year -- 6 months $5.00 strictly In advance foreign -- $45.00 a yeer Although every precaution will be taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising In Its columns on the understanding that If will not be liable for any error In the advertisement published hereunder unless a proof of such advertisement Is requested In writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business office duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted In writing thereon, end In that case II any error so noted Is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman Its liability shall not exceed such a portion of the entire cost of such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error beers to the whole space occupied by such advertisement. ■ • 1 ifï-tî feasibility study the situation yet another time. Pine Ridge may go down in the Guinness Book of Records Records as the only land parcel in his^ tory to bite the dust from an over exposure to feasibility studies. Incidentally Incidentally a verbal disclosure from the province claims it is costing $75,000 per year to perform basic maintenance at the school. The decision to reassess was recently recently revealed by George Ashe, newly appointed head of the Ministry Ministry of Government Services. It was made after an attempt in May this year to sell the property by public tender failed. Only one bid was received and it proved to be unacceptable. So, the government has again retreated into its shell crying that worn out phrase, feasibility study. A letter from Mr. Ashe dated July 22nd, 1983, states, "Following the tender, which resulted in no viable proposals proposals being made, the property has been withdrawn from the market to permit a review of possible Provincial Provincial need for the property." One might deduce from the past sequence of events that the private business sector is not interested in the property and the government simply has no use for it. The Ontario government has offered offered Victoria College in Cobourg, a similar unused facility, to the Northumberland and Newcastle Board of Education at no cost. The Board has not yet taken advantage of the offer based on the economics involved to renovate the place., However, there has been no such benevolence extended to the Town of Newcastle in connection with Pine Ridge. Perhaps no realistic plan could be worked up for town use of the facility but, on the other hand, the opportunity to seriously investigate the possibility has never been presented. The Honorable George Ashe is the new chief hen at the Ministry. Under him'lies the long undeter- - mined future of Pine Ridge. Optimistically, Optimistically, if it isn't asking too much, he will either hatch or get off the egg. «>V; lT-1 llfilll -4 T;/ .1 m y' » -Ai, 4 !y l ft JKJ Parkwood Ceremony Marks Opening of Oshawa 9 s McLaughlin Week SUGAR and SPICE Old Fighter Pilots Looking forward to a fishing trip with a few old fighter pilots. It'll be the first time I've been really fishing for years. I used to work the trout streams ;fairly regularly, but between acid rain and pesticides flowing into them, they've become almost barren. My wife was all in favor of the trip at first. You need to get away. Do something different. See some old friends. That sort of thing. I was surprised and delighted. But it didn't take her long to start worrying. "Your fishing tackle is all rusty. What about your arthritis? You haven't anything to wear. I suppose you'll all just sit around and drink and tell stories. What'll I do while you're away? ' ' I think what really gets her is that I'll be out of touch with the lousy old world for a few days -- no telephone, radio, mailman. It's a fly-in lake and she can't get at me to tell me the latest terrible news about the family. That's the only kind of real holiday that does a man any good. Get good and filthy, don't shave, catch some fish, eat hearty, play some poker, have a little snort without anyone sniffing in disgust, and sleep like a baby. ' :. What she really distrusts are old fighter pilots. Every time I get together with them, I age about 10 years for a few weeks. But surely she has nothing to worry about this time. The whole trip has been organized by Jack Rÿan, lawyer, good churchman, father of five. Surely old Jack wouldn't get a chap in trouble. And yet... I do have memories. It's amazing how some friendships are formed in such a short time, and last for decades. Jack and I met for the first time at some God-forsaken little English railway station, miles from nowhere, both headed for operational training on Spitfires. We spent only about three months together, but formed a close friendship that has lasted more than 40 years, although we've seen each other only occasionally since the war. We became part of a gallant little band that included a Sikh, a Norwegian, a Belgian, a Pole, some Free French, various New Zealanders and Australians, and the usual scattering of Scots, Irish and Brits. We trained together, hit the pubs together, pursued girls together, sang together, during ,a bleak English winter, then went our various ways, most to be killed. Jack Ryan was posted to a Spitfire squadron. I, to my disgust, was transferred to training for the new Typhoon fighter-bomber. Singh Thandi, our Sikh friend, was sent out, or back, to India and reported killed flying against the Japanese in Burma. The only other one I've seen since, aside from Jack, was Jacques Van der Perren, a Belgian. Our paths crossed for five minutes in Brussels in 1944.1 went missing not long after, and he was killed. Old Ryan was all Irish, genial, witty, out-going, and the second best snooker player in the mess. I was the best. He was certainly the best pilot in the training unit, as most of us were rookies with a couple of hundred hours, while he'd spent about a year in England as a flying instructor. We used to go up in pairs, to practise dog-fighting. I dreaded being paired with Jack Ryan. We'd break; off, I'd look wildly abound the sky, see nothing, and suddenly hear a voice on the R.T., "Brrrup-brrrup! Bail out, 'Smiler, you've just been shot down." The one I really enjoyed dogfighting dogfighting with was a tiny Hindu called Beri. He was the most terrified fighter pilot I ever met. He should never have been forced (pride? family tradition?) into attempting to be one. He was the only one of the lot of us who was scared out of his wits and had enough sense to admit it. We'd go up to practise close . formation flying. If you were young and stupid, you did it as tight as possible -- your wing tucked right under the other guy's. As soon as I got within 50 yards of fieri, he'd squeal, "Smiley, you crazy; don't get so close," and would veer off until there was a good 500 yards between us. We were all going hell-for-leather to become Spit pilots, however, and to this day I don't know why. If you graduated, your chances of survival were very slim. If you didn't, you had been killed in a training accident, or were relegated to some flying job where you could do the least harm to the fewest people, including yourself. And yet we were all dead keen to make the grade. Don't ask me what it was. Male ego? Wanting to be part of a special group? Trying to prove something to ourselves.? It was something about as bright as a gang of senior citizens taking part in wheelchair races, with no rules. And now we're senior citizens, those few left, and we don't seem to have increased in the brains department. ; I hope that Ryan remembers enough navigation to get us into thé right lake, where the muskies and bass are as numerous as minnows. : Queen's Park Report By Sam Cureatz M.P.P. I Paramedic Program Since 1981 Ontario has been developing a paramedic program as part of a comprehensive comprehensive emergency services services plan for the province. province. I am now pleased to report that starting this fall a paramedic training pilot project will get underway with the first group of graduates manning ambulances ambulances on the streets of Toronto and Hamilton Hamilton and air ambulances based at Sudbury and Thunder Bay by theend of the year. The first paramedic students, all of whom now hold the basic Emergency Medical Care Attendant Certificate Certificate (EMCA I) will take a nine week course beginning beginning on October 17' to qualify for the EMCA II classification. They will be trained in advanced advanced patient assessment, assessment, advanced airway management, intravenous intravenous fluid therapy, application application and inflation of anti-shock garments, as well as provision of nitrous oxidc/oxygen for relief of pain. The second phase of the pilot project training training program, another nine-week course to follow follow the EMCA II training training will turn out the province's first EMCA Hi's. It will include such advanced life-saving life-saving procedures as application application of rotating tourniquets, insertion of tubes to assist breathing, administration administration of/ drugs, cardiac monitoring and defibrillation. defibrillation. Once the pilot project is completed, the full paramedic training program will be made available to attendants in other Ontario communities communities which have the necessary support services. The long range objective is to have EMCA Us on the staff of most of the province's province's ambulance services, services, with EMCA Ills in major population centres and on our dedicated dedicated • air ambulances. ambulances. Paramedics, however, however, arc only part of the comprehensive emergency program that is now being developed. developed. There are other elements which are equally essential in this important health care area. In our communities, communities, strong citizen CPR (cardio-pulmo- nary resuscitiation programs) must be developed developed so that the first person on the scene of an emergency, a friend of the victim, a police officer, or passerby, can start resuscitation procedures procedures immediately. In the case of heart attack attack victims, for example, example, that means within the first four minutes of the onset of the attack. An integrated emergency system among all our hospitals is also being developed where certain hospitals will have specialized expertise and advanced advanced care capability in specified and designated designated areas, such as for heart attack, accident and burn victims. At the same time, a system is being devised where patients are taken as quickly as possible to the most appropriate facility, not necessarily the closest one as our current legislation now requires. It is our intention to put together a first class emergency system that will meet the varying health care needs of all Ontarians in the different different regions of the province province and increase dramatically the number of Ontarians lives we are able to save. I am pleased that in addition to the capital grant that has been approved approved for Durham College College by the Minister of Education for construction, construction, the Ministry has also approved. a number of trainee programs, programs, I am also pleased that the Town of Newcastle application for a grant to assist the financing o| the Hamlet of Newton* ville private water systems systems was ruled eligible! and the Ministry of the Environment is awaiting awaiting documentation from the Town of Newcastle. Newcastle.