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uA Oy Tee ~ ~ > Co 2 NC, = Te AT NY all [VX . AEN Ad / bl pt Cp Sel. AT a" '\ ike ES ERA - In : "- - a nT NTE -- editoriol comments The New President There has been a lot of criticism about the grandiose and expensive inauguration ceremonies and celebrations for Ronald Reagan last week. One report put the final price tag at $10.5 million, or more than triple what it cost when Jimmy Carter came into office four years ago. Ten million dollars, or whatever the figure, is a lot of money. It seems ironic when Reagan campaigned on the promise to trim government waste, and one of his first official jobs was to slap a freeze on federal hiring. However, Reagan's inauguration and all that accompanied it was designed to serve notice not only to the people of the United States, but the rest of the world as well, that the office of president is indeed something special, and after all, the United States is the single most powerful and wealthy nation in the world. The office of president has taken a battering in the past ten years or so: the abuse of power by Richard Nixon; the miserable attempt by Carter at a 'down home jes' plain folks' presidency, and the humilia- tion brought about by the Iranian hostage crisis. If there is one thing that Reagan must do during his term it it to restore a special sense of importance and loftiness to the office of presidency. Despite the costs, the gala inauguration may have been a crucial first step in doing this. It appears as if the mood of the American people is in keeping with a restoration of impGktance, not only of the presidency, but of America as a nation. Part of Carter's problems was a perception at home and abroad that office of president was weak, had lost its influence and power, and if the office itself is seen as weak, the man sitting behind the big desk is also seen as weak. With crises at flash points in a half dozen places around the globe, the United States must assume.a position of strength and leadership of the western democracies. It was obvious during this past decade with America floundering over Viet Nam and the after- math of that debacle, that collectively, the other democracies of the western alliance were not strong enough to counter the forces which pose a threat to international peace and order. In short, the western world needs a strong America, and America itself needs a strong presi- dency. Unfortunately, it is a sad fact of life in the world today that strength and power are the main measure of a nation's might. To think otherwise would be naive. Jimmy Carter's approach, while it may have been honourable, ultimately led to his downfall. While $10 million may be tough for Mr. and Mrs. Middle America to swallow, Reagan's efforts to show the rest of the world that the president of the United States commands power and attention are on the right track. - SW Wm mana hw ER RRS) LEAT IMT TL OA SARE RE RR CN SR tis itinailieina Ly Rahaman OY, . A AA Fa ¢ od, AD ORS OMAN Pe ARERR a Oo. Pay Hikes For Councils The time is long overdue for some kind of mechanism to be set up to relieve members of municipal councils of the onerous task of having to vote themselves a pay increase every two years. The present method never sits well with the public, "no matter how justified an increase in salary may be for elected officials, and as was he c2se last week when Durham Region counci! went through the gyrations, the whole issue can lead to grandstanding and leave a bad taste. It seems that no matter how municipal councils attempt to approach this sticky issue, invariably there are problems that crop up. If a new council votes itself an increase shortly after taking office, the public will complain that the council has its priorities in the wrong place. If a council votes a pay increase shortly before an election for the in-coming council, it winds up an election issue, which it shouldn't. Let's face it. The days are gone when citizens would stand for local office and accept the responsi- bilities as a duty to their community for a stipend of $200 or $300 a year. ' The business of municipal affairs is becoming more and more complex all the time, and time demands on elected officials are likewise increasing. Members of local councils, who give up their time, who curtail their own business activities or take time off from the jobs, must be paid salary levels to compensate for this. } One possible way to get around the problem would be to peg to increase annually to the Consumer Price Index, or a portion of it. That would take it out of the political arena. Another way might be to peg increases to the amount of monies that municipalities receive each year from the provincial government in the form of grants. Or possibly there could be some kind of indepen- dent arbitration board set up to deal with the issue and set salary rates for municipalities across the province, based on population, or average settle- ments in the private sector. And while on the subject of council salaries, the relationship between what a member of Durham council is paid and the salary received by members (Turn to page 5) bill smiley ODE TO WINTER Ah, Winter! -There's nothing like you to put the iron into the souls of Canadians. We can tuff you out. But the trouble is that the iron stays in the souls, and our short summer is not enough to make it molten. In other words, everybody over fifty has arthritis. Mine doesn't bother me much, because I'm always trying a new remedy that is guaranteed, and hope lives eternal in the human beast. I've tried carrying a potato in my hip pocket. It was a sure thing, I was told. But from sitting around on that cold mashed potato for a couple of weeks, all I got was arthritis in the hip, where I'd never had it before. Then I got a kind of wristband, made of some shiney metal, which allegedly had done wonders for arthritis in Japan. Nothing happened except that I got arthritis in my wrist, where I'd never had it before. My son, who is a great man for herbs and a vegetarian, except when he's home, when ° he eats three helpings of meat, had a surefire recipe that would cure arthritis in three weeks. It's an herb from Switzerland, called Devil's Claw. It tastes like a devil's claw that hasn't been washed since His Evilness was kicked out of heaven. You have to drink three cups of the junk, brewed in hot water and left standing, per day, before meals. I was faithful for the three weeks, even though it was an ordeal to look at food after swallowing the swill. Result? I had the worst arthritic knee I've had since a guy kicked my kneecap two inches to the left back in 1944. A kind lady from Alberta wrote that she could get me a special price on some kind of machine that gives you ultrared (or some- thing) treatments. I declined to answer, on the reasonable grounds that I knew it would turn me into a red arthritic. I wouldn't mind being a red politically, or a red Indian (something I've never seen), but I didn't want to become a red arthritic, for some reason. TES 3 37 ET ANT My wife has about eight books about arthritis. She keeps reading me bits from each, and I get so confused I don't know whether to diet strictly, eat like a hog, get into acupuncture, or go out and roll in the snow, naked. I imagine any or all of them would have the same result. Anyway, my arthritis doesn't bother me at all. It's just a good excuse for getting out of a lot of unnecessary chores, which my old lady is quite young and fit enough to do herself: Scrubbing (my knees are bad). Wallpapering (my should- ers are killing me.) Garbage (doc says don't lift anything over 20- pounds; my back.) Anyway, I didn't intend to write a column about arthritis. As a topic of either conver- sation or literature, it's about as exciting as the common cold, another subject which winter provides Canadians some stimulat- ing repartee about. What I really set out to do was write an Ode to Winter. And here it comes. I tell my students that, any dang fool can write modern poetry, but there aren't many of us left who can make it rhyme. Ode to Winter: "Winter, you is a time for Slipping and sliding, Swooping and gliding, Snowmobile riding. But if you decided to spend the winter in Flor'da I'd adore ya." That's all. No need to spoil a perfect bit of poesy. But imagine what a modern poet, especially a young one, would do with that. Here's a sample, no rhyme, no rhythm: Hey, Mr. Winter: "I dig you. Beer and bums after the ski hill Downing the drinks after the bonspiel. Knocking down farmers' fences with my Bombardier Flyer. i You're a white man, Ole Mister. I dig you." Come to think of it, the second ode has more concrete nouns that the first, more action verbs, more appeal to the senses, and sharper imagery. Not to mention a great and powerful use of repetition in the opening and closing lines. It's a better poem. But how can it be a better poem if it doesn't rhyme? As R.J. Needham would ask, who once stated publicly that there hadn't been any good poetry written since Tennyson. | told him that was utter nonsense. He agreed. He was just trying to get somebody to say something. Nah. Winter's not so bad. But my heart sinks when I think that Wilson, the boy next door, is in Grade 12, and will soon be off to college. In the mornings, after a blizzard, 1 sit quietly drinking my tea and reading my paper until I hear his shovel clanging on the back porch. Then I leave for work, knowing my path and driveway are open. In the summer he cuts my grass. I'm going to ask all his teachers to fail him this year. The only other solution is to sell the hduse. i 3 5 i a A rma AEN "i nada din a