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"WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2001 - 7 HAPPENINGS & OPINIONS BROOKLIN PROFILE ~ BY ROXANNE REVELER Seniors' Centre holding A tour of our murderous past registration SENIORS CLASSES Whitby Seniors Activity Centre will be holding registration for their summer classes next week. The actural classes starts the week of July 3. The way it works is you sign up on the day your classes will be held between 10 a.m.-3 p.m. That is, Monday for Monday classes, Thursday for Thursday classes, etc. Remember to bring the following: current membership card (or get one there), money-cash or cheque payable to the Town of Whitby. Registration forms are available at the front desk. Cost is minimal, from $13 to $22 tops, depending on the course and times vary. And courses range from 6-10 weeks in duration. Some of the courses are tap dancing, weight training, yoga, tai chi, aquafitness, ballroom dancing, aero- bic fitness, country line dancing, quigong and core condition. Call the Centre at 905- 668-1424 for details. FAIR STUFF Brooklin Spring Fair Parade gets underway at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, run- for summer ning south on Baldwin from North Street, west on Cassels then south on Simcoe to the fairgrounds. Friday nights big action is the Truck and Tractor Pull starting at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday nights venue is the Demolition Derby starting at 8 p.m. Admission to the grounds daily is $7 for adults or a weekend pass is available for $15. Kids 5-12 is $1, under 5 is free and seniors and students 13-18 is $5. On grounds parking is $3. THANK YOU Group '74 would like to thank all the mothers, daughters and friends that joined us at our Victorian Tea. We all had a lovely afternoon. Thank you to all who helped in any way and all the businesses who donated door prizes. If you would like more info on Group '74 please call Hillary at 905-655-3036. LACROSSE No action at Luther Arena this. week- end due to the Spring Fair. The Merchants will be in town next on June 16 to host St. Clair. Is a 64-cent-dollar such a bad thing? | guess it depends on your penchant for exchanging Canadian dollars into U.S. and what it is you intend to do with the money. Due to the nature of currencies we compare them to each other. Since most countries are on a fluctuating currency rate the market decides their value on any given day. Canadians, due to their proximity to the United States, have a fixation on U.S. currency. However you could just as easily compare the value to an Australian dollar, pound sterling or a Russian ruble. Many people think that because U.S. and Canada use the dollar - a decimal cur- rency - that somehow they should have the same purchasing power. Purchasing power is what it is all about. Obviously, in and of itself, money, is of no value but what it can purchase, or moti- vate people to do (meaning work) is its major value. Economists attempt to look at purchas- ing power by looking at a basket of goods purchased with the currency. This would be illustrated by your trip to the super- market. And it's where you see strange patterns developing. For example, those of you who go to the U.S. notice that a basket of goods there is similar to a basket of goods in Canadian dollars. In other words it looks as if there is no exchange differentiation. This means that a basket of goods is propor- tionately higher than it is in Canada. I'm told the reverse is true in Turkey. That is to say Turkey has one of the cheap- est basket purchases in the world if you compare it to one standard measure, usu- ally U.S. dollars. There are a number of factors con- tributing to the variances in the value of our dollar. First U.S. currency is not only the domestic currency of the United States, it is also the currency of intema- tional exchange. Purchasing power's what it's all about Straight Talk by "business needs. This has caused our ALEX SHEPHERD DURHAM M.P. For example Russia has the highest domestic ownership of U.S. dollars out- side of the United States, (This speaks vol- umes about that country's trust in its own currency). Secondly, the strength of the U.S. econ- omy, 40 percent of thé world's economy, means that in good times and even more in bad, people flock to buy U.S. currency. This drives the value of the U.S. dollar upward. Thirdly, the U.S. economy, especially in the area of electronics and computers, has been booming for the last 10 years and is just now showing signs of closing down. Together, with the ability of U.S. business to quickly adapt to changing technology, means the Americans have been able to introduce efficiencies in the production of goods and services without increasing their costs. This has led to significant increases in productivity, or, how many goods and ser- vices can be produced with the same amount of input costs. Canada has a problem here. Canadians have been slower to use emerging tech- nologies and slower to adapt them to their economy to lag behind the U.S. and it has had a direct bearing on what people think our currency is worth. Some suggest the lower dollar has allowed Canadian business to hide the fact they have not been as productive as they could. It is likely the Canadian dollar is where it is because of the business factor. A tour of some of Ontario's most infamous murders and hangings By Rik Davie The Star If you have ever wanted to tour the great execution sites of Ontario, and who hasn't, author Terry Boyle has written what may be the definitive book. Fit To Be Tied, Ontario's Murderous Past, takes the reader on a tour of the sites of some of old Ontario's most infamous murders and subsequent hangings. Through his vivid portrayal of the events - taken from newspaper accounts and research - he leads us along the mur- derous path of some of the most interest- ing people ever to wear the executioner's necktie. From Cobourg to London, Mr. Boyle introduces us to hapless bank robbers, murderous doctors, con-men turned killers and shows -us the almost carnival like atmosphere of hanging in the late 1800s. You will meet Arthur Ellis, the most notable of the executioners, for whom a crime writer's award is now named, and William Henry King, whose skills as a doc- tor led to his meeting with a hangman in Cobourg. Author of Haunted Ontario, Mr. Boyle writes an easy read and what amounts to a map for a road trip. to the sites of Ontario's most heinous past. A must read for any history or crime buff and anybody who thinks the only interest- ing murders happened in England. Members of Provincial Parliament for the Durham Region are pleased to leam that the Durham District School Board and the Durham Catholic District School Board have been selected to host a strict disci- pline demonstration project for expelled students. The project will be running by September 2001. It is one of seven announced on Wednesday, May 23, by Education Minister Janet Ecker, MPP for Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge. Strict discipline programs give fully expelled students access to the advice and direction they need to turn their lives around. These programs also help to restore respect and responsibility in the classroom. It is important that expelled students continue to complete their high school diplomas in this program. However, it is also important that they will also be spending 40 per cent of their time addressing the behaviour that resulted in their expulsion from school. There must be some consequences for their actions. Under the Safe Schools Act, 2000, stu- dents who are fully expelled for violent and disruptive behaviour will be required to meet the outcomes of a strict discipline or equivalent program before they can return to a regular publicly-funded school in Ontario. These outcomes include: compliance with the provincial Code of Conduct, demonstrating respect, discipline and responsibility. For information or com- Strict Discipline School Project Staying in Touch JOHN R. O'TOOLE ho MPP DURHAM EAST R \ ments, please call my Constituency Office at 1-800-661-2433 or 697-1501. This week, | will introduce a new Private Member's Bill that will promote physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle. The Physical Fitness Day Act, 2001, if passed by the Ontario Legislature, would proclaim the first Friday in September as Physical Fitness Day in Ontario. Medical studies have shown that a moderate amount of physical fitness is a key to a long, healthy and productive life. Unfortunately, the latest studies show that people of Ontario are increasingly seden- tary. That means a decline in physical fit- ness and a rise in obesity across our province, particularly among children. | always recall the old expression: "A healthy body promotes a healthy mind." The Physical Fitness Day Act, 2001 will be introduced in the Ontario Legislature at the earliest possible opportunity. What more appropriate time can there be to introduce this Private Member's Bill than during the International Year of the Volunteer? Got an opinion ; Email; ec itorial want to share? 28 Bag rtm tm sh a -- A-- ----_------ UP" elit. nn wl ry ------ Sli nls LA Ra, |