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Page 4, News, Tuesday, March 13, 1990 Editorial: The Terrace Bay-Schreiber News is published every Tuesday by Laurentian Publishing Limited, Box 579, 13 Simcoe Plaza, Terrace Bay, Ont., POT-2W0O Tel.: (807)-825-3747 Fax (807)-825-9233. Second class mailing permit 2264. Member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Assn. and the Canadian Community Newspaper Assn. Fito copies 40 oa Publisher............. A. 'Sandy' Harbinson ubscription rates: per . : year /seniors $10 (local), Office Managet.............Gayle Fournier $27 per year (out of 40 mile News Editor................. Angie Saunders radius); $36 in U.S. Advertising Rep.......... Sheryl A. Knight One loony may save your life! If you've walked into the washroom in a restaurant, nightclub, or gas station lately, you must have noticed the new machines that have been placed on the walls. Actually, these machines have been there for a year or two now, but people who do not haunt bars or frequent gas stations might overlook them. I've seen a few women, about my grandmother's age, walk out in disgust, or a mother tell her 4 year old, that the machine holds pretty colored balloons. I've also seen mothers who've snapped, "never mind, you're too young to know." Some men on the other hand seem to think these machines are the greatest things. I think the condom machines are a good idea. Everyone nowadays seems to be conscious about their health. Their healthy habits include aerobics, weight-lifting, jogging and dieting so why would they let themselves be susceptible to any sexually transmitted disease. Condoms are not only used for birth control but as a means of survival. The influx of AIDS in the 80's leaves an issue that can't be ignored. Sex is the easiest way to get AIDS, besides drug needles. If you are unlucky enough to get infected with the deadly virus due to sexual carelessness, there's an excellent chance that you won't be around much longer... because you'll be dead!!! A carrier can also spread it to many others through lack of condom use. So next time you're in a public washroom and notice the - pretty colored balloons being sold for a dollar, think how easy it is to save a life by being reasonably cautious, and -- using a condom. Angie Saunders " WHAT are you DOING TO MY HOUSEKEEPING ALLOWANCE \ Bur, HONEY, WE'RE $30 BILLION BEHIND IN MORTGAGE PAYMENTS / >: A 'Letter to the Editor' 'English Only'...we totally agree Dear Editor, With regard to your editorial in the February 4 issue of the Terrace Bay- Schreiber News entitled "English Only." We would like to tell you that we are in complete agreement with your PO. Box 1241 views. February 22, 1990 Terrace Bay, ON Robert and Margaret Anderson For sale: one country, hardly used... I've done a little hop- scotching around the country this past couple of weeks. My travels have fetched me up in locales as various as Windsor, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Mon- treal, Brandon and Lethbridge. Now I'm not pretending that's anything close to a comprehensive cross-country survey but it's a pretty fair ramble across the glorious chunk of terra firma we call Canada, 'and there is a common connecting thread. All the communities I spent time in are, as sO many Canadian cities are, snugged up pretty close to the southern boundary of this country. Which is to say, no more than a short drive from the Canada/ U.S. border--a.k.a. the World's Longest Checkout Counter. Folks I talked to in all those . communities had a lot of things on their mind. They spoke out forthrightly about Meech Lake, the possibility of arranging urine tests for Bill Vander Zalm, the Liberal leadership race, George Bush's bush-league switchblade- rattling exercises in Central America, the Gretzky/ Lemieux duel for on-ice divinity... The Canadians I met in all of the aforementioned com- munities talked about all those subjects--eventually. But what they talked about first and foremost was Buying Things. In a word: shopping. They talked about buying lumber, beer, gas, and stamps. And once again there was a common thread. All the shopping was paid for in Canadian money. And all the things they purchased were bought in the States. Folks in all the com- munities I visited routinely nipped south of the border, if only to fill their gas tanks and pick up a few groceries. Or to mail a few letters. Did you know it cost you 16 cents less to send a first-class letter to a U.S. address if you mail it from the States? A lot of small Canadian businessmen have figured that out. So has Tourism New Brunswick. Officials there claim they saved $70,000 last year by trucking their foreign mail across the Maine border and posting it stateside. ITEM: I have a pal in Windsor, Ontario who drinks beer. Quite a bit of it. Every couple Black of weeks he braves the Windsor Tunnel to hit a Detroit booze outlet and load up on a Case or two of his favourite brew. Reason: he can pick up his brand in Detroit for less than half the "Canadian price he pays in Windsor. Name of his favourite brew? Molson Canadian. ITEM: My pal Bill in Thunder Bay is planning to drive down to Minnesota and buy a couple of thousand dollars worth of tongue and groove siding. Reason: simple. Even after paying customs duty it'll cost him half as much as it would in Thunder Bay. Now, it's one thing to find out that a bottle of Jack Daniels Sour Mash whiskey or a C.F. Martin acoustic guitar costs more in Moose Jaw than it does in Poughkeepsie, New York--those things are, after all, made down there. But Molson Canadian? Tongue and groove pine siding? Aren't those in our department? Sure they are. They're cheaper south of the border because American retailers don't pay the Canadian tax. It's all very nice that shoppers are enioving a windfall of tranc-- border bargains, but what is it doing to our Canadian merchants? Answer: driving a lot them into putting 'For Sale' signs in their shop windows. Last year, Amer- ican firms bought up nearly $10 billion worth of Canadian businesses. That pompous outport gasbag John Crosbie recently grabbed headlines by accusing Canadian businessmen of being lazy. Get off your duffs, he said, become more aggressive, like the Americans. Sure, John boy, that's the ticket! We'll do it up big! Let's string a giant red white and blue banner along the 49th parallel! FOR' SALE. ONE COUNTRY, HARDLY USED. AIRLINES, RAILWAYS, BUSINESSES BIG. AND SMALL, NATIONAL ODDS AND ENDS PRICED TO CLEAR. NO REASONABLE OFFER REFUSED. If Canada can't go out with a bang we could at least go out with 9 helliva oarage calle