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) Section Two The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, May 2,1984 3 Editorial Comment The Non-Productive Year What ever happened to local government's government's most productive year? We are referring, of course, to that second year of the three-year term. Idealists suggested that the middle year would be a time for action. action. This theory proposed that a three-year tenure would give councillors councillors one year to get to know each other and settle down from the elections. elections. Then they'd have a year to make tough decisions free from the immediate pressure of re-election. Presumably, the third year would turn into the customary pre-election pre-election free-for-all as politicians once again tried to score points with the voters. So much for theories. Advocates of the three-year term have discounted a second possibility possibility which seems to be especially obvious obvious at the regional level. They failed to take into account the possibility that politicians would use the middle year as a holiday. holiday. In the best of all possible worlds, elected officials would put forth their best effort in the middle year. But, from a cynical political point of view, there's no real reason to do that. Politicians know that anything they do in the middle of their term will be promptly forgotten by election election time. And if you have a wonderful wonderful scheme to attract industry, cut taxes, or fix potholes, why introduce introduce it during the doldrums of the three-year term. Better to hold back until six months before election day so that voters will remember what you've done for them. As we have said before, it's the regional level where this trend is most easily seen. And not all elected officials are guilty of holding holding back their best efforts. But the fact remains that regional council could be using this year to decide, for example, the location of a new landfill site which Durham will be needing this decade. Or council might put its collective heads together and devise a way to bring some development to the hundreds hundreds of acres of residential land available in Bowmanville. Instead, regional council sessions sessions that start at 10 a.m. seldom extend past noon hour and the same may be said of committee meetings. One committee session took a total" of 14 minutes. So if you find that local politics is on the quiet side these days, just remember that the reason may not be a dearth of political activities. It may just be the fact that we're sandwiched into the middle of a three-year term. All we can add is that elected officials are only halfway through what was supposed supposed to be the most productive year. It's not too late for them to demonstrate that the introduction of three-year terms was a good idea, after all. There is still a chance that the promised "productive" year may become productive. Radioactive Weekend The past week's nuclear news was capped off Sunday night with a television television program that was a cross between between "The Day After," and "War of the Worlds." Both of these programs programs drew a picture of world-wide global destruction, a possibility that, in our opinion, is unlikely to occur. However, the scenario painted by the program "Special Bulletin," appears to be a very real possibility. "Special Bulletin" took the Orsen Wells approach to present a story about terrorists who try to force the American government to disarm 1,000 nuclear warheads in the Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, vicinity. This seems like a request that is unlikely unlikely to be fulfilled, however, the terrorists were able to add a little punch to their demands with their own nuclear bomb. Naturally, the Americans would not dismantle their weapons, leaving leaving the east coast undefended. So, in commando style, the Pentagon ordered a raid on the terrorists which proved to be successful. However, the NEST experts dismantling dismantling the bomb were not as successful successful and in a few brief seconds, Charleston was reduced to rubble. The program would not have bothered us so much except that American intelligence sources discovered discovered last week that Iran is within two years of creating their own nuclear bomb. If a country like Iran is in possession of such weaponry, it cannot be long before terrorist groups such as the IRA will drop their machine guns for warheads. The situation appears to be bad enough now with the Americans Americans and the Soviets armed for destruction. destruction. But when trigger-happy terrorists have such force, both super powers will have to work together together to avoid a holocaust. At home, we are having our own nuclear woes with the announcement announcement that Ontario Hydro will be closing Douglas Point, the country's first nuclear power plant. Hydro claims that it will cost more to repair repair the plant than to close it and proceed with Darlington -- much that same ideology that our town council came up with when dealing with the Memorial Park pool closing. closing. But, what has not been widely reported, reported, and is of more significance, is that Douglas Point is the first nuclear nuclear power plant to be shut down in North America. And what is even more disturbing is that nobody is quite sure how to do it! There is more involved than shutting shutting off a wall switch in the control room at Douglas Point. This plant has been operating for close to two decades, which means almost twenty years of contaminated pipes, reactors, spent fuel and heavy water. There has been talk of remote lasers and robots which will do the work safely, but the same source estimates that it will take at least 50 years to complete the shut down, if it can be done! And when it's complete, where will all the scrap be disposed? Will it be buried, burned, or shot into space? Hopefully, Hydro will come up with some ideas that are cost efficient efficient and safe. Anti-nuclear groups could have a field day with this one, justifiably saying "I told you so." Coupled with the growing number of nuclear arms dissidents, there will be increased increased pressure on all levels of government to investigate the radioactive solutions to our energy and defense problems. Ontario Hydro keeps assuring us that nuclear power is safe and that Darlington will be a benefit to the area. Even if there are no problems with Darlington, you can be sure that at least one Soviet missile is aimed at the nuclear station to knock out the major North Amer- . ican power supply. If that day should ever come, all we can suggest is that you grab your favorite favorite bottle of Crown Royal, your baseball glove, and do your best to try and catch that missile. 2life (Canabian Statesman 623-3303 (*CNA Durham County's Qresl Family Journal Established 130 years ago In 1854. Also Incorporating The Bowmanville News The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second class mall registration number 1561 Produced every Wednesday by THE JAMES PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 82-66 King St, W., Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 x1 ,B -\ ♦ V L ► JOHN M. JAMES Editor -- Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS Business Mgr. RICHARD A. JAMES Assistant Publisher BRIAN PURDY Advertising Mgr. DONALD BISHOP Plant Mgr. All Uyoul» and compoilllon ol edverlliementi produced by Ih» «mployni ol The Canadian Sleleiman, The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright end must not be reproduced without written permission ol the publishers. It 5.00 a year -- 0 months tll.OO strictly In edvence foreign --145.00 a year Ainiough ovmy prncmilion will In) Inkun lo nvuld mini, Tho Cnmitli.m Sl.'ilusm.in iiccupt'J nilvoitlsmg In Its columns on till, unduii.liimliMd Hint II will not tin lliililu lor liny iriini in Iho iidvoitlsumonl puhlishod lirmninilui unlnos n nmol ol rincli odvortlsomiml is iiirninslml in wrilinu by tin, nilvoilinii mill lutumml lo Thi, Ciinmlmn Slnlosm.m business olllco duly tilrjmicl by Urn mlvmllrinr nnd will) such «nor or collodion!; plainly mill'd m willing themon, and in lh.il c,nut il any niioi no notod is not coimclml by Tim Cumuli,in Sliilnnninn in. liability nh.ill not oncnt'd Midi a million ol Uni imtini cost ol such iKlvmtiBtinunl an tlm r.pncii occupied by tin, noluil unoi boars to Itm whole spacu occupied by such ndvinliiimimnt Ravaged Tree at End of Tunnel A SUGAR and SPICE A «? Oh to Be in Florida I hate to admit it, after what I've written in the past, but I'm sitting in Florida writing this column. It makes me feel like a heel, knowing that my friends are going through the dying throes of that chancy month of April. I don't want to be here. I despise myself for sitting in Sarasota, in my shorts, looking out the window at a lot of palm trees and a small man- r ' ; made lake where the ducks come splashing in. It literally hurts me inside when I lie on a chaise lounge beside the swimming pool and consider what a rotten traitor I am to my class, my friends, my way of life and my principles. Sometimes a tear rolls down my face. I'm never quite sure whether it's self-disgust or the sun being too strong on my wintry blue eyes. However, you'll be glad to know that I didn't want to come here. I fought it as cleverly as a fox trying to out-fox the hounds. I had several friends who invited me to come down and stay with them. My little brother, the Colonel, called me up a couple of times, and demanded what flight I would be on, before I'd even thought of getting a ticket. He was quite peremptory, as is his wont. He gave me a great deal of useless advice, as though I had never been outside the country before, even though I've travelled all over the U.K., Europe, and most of Canada, never missing a connection or a flight. Then my physiotherapist got on my back. He thought a good couple of weeks of that Florida sunshine would be great for my broken shoulder. It's worse than when I arrived. He just wanted to get rid of me because I groaned too much when he manipulated my shoulder in and out of its socket. I have a low pain threshold. In ' other words" I groan and grunt when something hurts. No stiff upper lip for me. My friends, looking at my depressed, dilapidated countenace urged me to go, "Just to get away from things." I didn't want to get away from anything. I loved putting out the garbage on Tuesday morning, then going back to bed. I thoroughly enjoyed my daily trip to the library. I'd begun to get used to staying awake all night and leaping up at the crack of noon for a delightful snack of the last of last night's Chinese food or fried chicke n or pizza. Washed down with strong tea, it's better than many a meal I have eaten. An old pilot friend offered to drive me down. A complete hedonist and a recent widower, like me, he really put the pressure on. I still stalled. He was disgusted. He's worked all his life, . . . HARD, and he's going to enjoy his last years if it kills him. It was tempting, but I hung tough. Then came the real pressure. My daughter Kim, with a recent small in heritance, after living on welfare and short spurts of work, with four degrees, and some help from the old folks, decided to head out for Florida on her spring break. She and the kids were going to see Uncle Blake in Sarasota, and expecting me to scoop them up and take them to Disney world. Since I hadn't seen them since Christmas, and I like to keep track of my grandboys, I succumbed: gave up, gave in, and headed south. I am thankful to say that my grandboys drove my brother almost out of his nut in the two days before I arrived. They got a terrible sunburn their first day, after ignoring his advice about sun lotion and such goop. Kim knocked over and broke one of his treasures. The boys threw a ball against the screen around his pool and dented it thoroughly. They walked on his carpets with wet feet. They wanted to go to the beach when he wanted to lie down. I'm used to this, but he's not! As a result, while his hospitality remained impeccable and extremely generous, he was smiling more and more through clenched teeth. He is used to people jumping when he says, "Jump!", I'm used to an argument such as, Where do we jump to, Grandad?" Anyway, somehow, I got conned into two days at Disneyworld with Kim and the kids. My brother had enough sense to stay home. Dragging my arthritic old foot around, I managed to keep up with them for the first day, including rides that, even as an old fighter pilot, I wouldn't have had the guts to go on by myself. I whimpered through all of the rides once, but on the many repeats the kids and their mother elected, I declined with regrets. Second day, I spent most of it in the shade, reading a pocket novel and people-watching. I saw tiny kids run on the concrete, trip, fall on their noses and bleed and wail profusely. I saw many oldsters charging around, on an off rides, in an out of exhibits, with incredible stamina, and a young mother, with none left, standing in a stupor, with a tiny babe draped over her shoulder and two other tykes clutching at her skirts and fussing at her through exhaustion. exhaustion. Disneyworld is a masterpiece of puppets, electronic and visual marvels, and exhibits. It is also very clean, something like a giant EXPO 67... a wonderland for children ! See it if you can. Now I must seriously think about the real things in life, like my income tax forms lurking at home, frozen chicken pies, galoshes. If I linger here, I'll be faced with a host of blossoms whose names I can't even spell. . . jacaranda, oleander, hibiscus, etc. No red-blooded Canadian should be faced with such a choice! Letters to the Editor Dear Editor: ReSt. Paul's'Collage' I had the privilege, along with several hundred other local citizens to experience in my opinion, one of the best evening's entertainment in the many years that I've been attending concerts of this nature. Hats off to Douglas Dewcll who was responsible for obtaining obtaining this superb group of musicians and to St, Paul's Senior Choir for carrying out this project. There was something for every age group from Bach to Rock, done ever so tastefully and with just the right amount of humour. Although standing ovations seem to be the norm, these performers truly received received an immediate reaction - no hesitancy - the audience rose to their feet instantly. Douglas Dewell, Organist and Choirmaster of St. Paul's United Church, has arranged for two more programs in a series of three concerts In conjunction with St. Paul's Church 150th Anniversary. If the first concert is any indication indication of what's to come - the next two performances should fill the Bowmanville High School auditorium, Thanks Doug and St, Paul's for bringing bringing the best to Howmnnville. On the local scene - don't forget to support the Bowmanville Bowmanville High School's production of "The King and I" under the direction of Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Lindop. The music is under the direction of myself and Doug Dewell, Ross S. Metcalf April 28,1984 Dear Mr. James, I thought your readers should be made aware of a few facts which may not be known to all, but which were previously previously made public by the Town of Newcastle Ratepayers' Ratepayers' Association in their February report entitled "1984 Reassessment in the Town of Newcastle," ,As a result of the recent reassessment and with the approval of the mayor and council the Ontario assessors inflated the assessment base of this community by $772,070 over the 1983 total assessment; assessment; this highly-qucstion- able action will have the potential to extract an extra $291,000 in taxes from property property owners - if not contested, The T.O.N.R.A. report revealed revealed that two-thirds ($104,800) of tills bonus lax amount would be collected from non-farming single- family homes, The Assessment Review Board must be compelled to return the entire $772,070 "bonus" assessment dollars to the property owners of our community - $515,560 of which belongs to the owners of single-family dwellings. Most of this "bonus" assessment belongs to non-farming homeowners homeowners in Ward 1. Sincerely, James Slyfield R.R.l, Bowmanville L1C3K2 Although the cost is somewhat somewhat prohibitive ($600 to $1000 per bus), we feel that the advantages would far outweigh outweigh the cost. In the case of accident or hazardous winter road conditions in areas lacking dense population, radios are a definite advantage. advantage. Bus delays, mechanical difficulties, and discipline arc others. In a very few cases, the Durham Board of Education Education has seen the need to provide incentive to the bus companies for the installation of radios. This has been in the form of a daily subsidy. Perhaps our Northumberland - Newcastle Board could do the same here. If you readers feel there arc definite advantages to installing installing radios in our school buses, wc urge you to make your views known to your trustees. In this way when the Northumberland Northumberland - Newcastle Board of Education - Charter way Bus Line contracts coine up for renewal, this will become an important issue. Your letters should be addressed addressed to your trustees: A1 Werry, R. R. No. 1, Enniskillen, Enniskillen, Ontario LOB 1H0; Sid Worden, R.R. No. 2, Bowmanville, Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K2. Thank you. EPTAC Enniskillen Public School R.R. No. 1, Enniskillen Ontario, LOB 1H0 April 24,1984 Dear Mr, James: The Enniskillen Public School Parent-Teacher Action Committee (EPTAC) felt that the following information would be of interest to your readers in our area. Subject: Two-way Radios in Rural School Buses At the April meeting of EPTAC, a Mr. Archie C.roth of Charterway Bus Lines outlined outlined the safety precautions and procedures operating on the buses serving the Enniskillen Enniskillen Public School. During the discussions that ensued, EPTAC became aware of the definite advantages of installing installing two-way radios on rural buses such as ours. At present only our kindergarten bus Is equipped. Birth Rate Climbs 30% At Memorial Hospital Memorial Hospital reported a 30 per cent increase in the number of births at its obstetrical ward last year. "There's definitely a higher demand demand for our hospital's obstetrical unit," said executive director of Memorial Hospital, Richard Elston last week, The hospital's new birthing suite has been suggested as one reason why more more patients are choosing choosing to have their children here. Mr. Elston added that there is also an increase in the number of area physicians who are doing obstetrical obstetrical work. He added that the increase imay also be part of a province-wide trend towards a slight increase in the birth rate. In general, Memorial Hospital saw a high degree of usage during the past year. The occupancy rate, excluding the pediatric ward, averaged 90.5 per cent during the year. That's well above the 85 per cent rate considered considered to he most desirable,