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the tribune thursday marti 17 1966 pace 3 home no longer the centre of teenage activity panel debate attracts standing room crowd stouffville the panel discussion sponsored by the stouffville home ard school association in the masonic hall last week was without doubt the most in teresting and informative public meeting held here in many years a standing- room audience of close to 200 parents and young peo- ple heard the topic of the teenager discussed n full and although no factual ac complishment was immedi ately achieved it provided both listeners and partici pants with food for thought magistrate david coon the panel moderator allowed questions from the crowd and many of the comments were accorded enthusiastic applause panel members in cluded mrs ruth dedlow william duxbury rev gor don gooderham and orland keating william duxbury parents too busy high school principal william duxbury stated that in his opinion modern day circumstances and sur roundings had created more problems for the young peo ple of today he said too that there was a time when parents would sit down and talk with their sons and daugthcrs there was a closer knit family unit he said he noted that mothers and fathers are engaged in so many activities that their children become neglected suddenly when they are older and we realize they have a problem its too late to communicate with them he said he agreed with the moderator that many young people appear over sophisti cated at the age of 16 but this was no fault of the teen ager after all we are the ones who arc raising them with reference to the much publicized coffee house pro gram in stouffville he said he had no criticism to offer as long as it was practiced on a onceamonth basis he argued against the necessity for an afterschool meeting place in town i feel they should meet in their homes and parents should encour age this he said he said that the cafeteria room was available in the high school but he didnt feel that this was the kind of afterfour recreation that the students were wanting as for extend ed use of the school during the summer months he said that such a program would have to be worked out with the board orland keating need discipline with reference to the pre- teen years police chief or land keating opposed the views of a previous speaker from the audience who claimed that physical disci pline was not necessary id love to do it your way he replied but its not always possible i feel that children expect discipline and respect a parent all the more for it producing a shingle he said that he was a firm believer in the oldfashioned trip be hind the woodshed he lim ited such practices to the age category from 2 to 10 years both chief keating and principal duxbury stated firmly that any reference to problem teenagers included a small minority of young people by far the greatest majority are fine respons ible people who will grow- up to be fine respons ible citizens said mr keat ing with reference to the law and the courts he said that many teenagers who run into trouble are not aware of the seriousness in volved a conviction means that they have a record that remains with them for the whole of their life he rec ommended that no one should be considered an adult and tried in an adult court until he or she has reached the age of is at the present time it is 16 with reference to teenage restlessness chief keating said that such behaviour was by no means abnormal adults live at a much faster pace now and so do our children it takes more to satisfy them than it did fif teen years ago they get around more with mobility second to none mrs until dedlow responsible people mrs ruth dedlow came to the defence of stouffville teenagers who had organized the coffee house program in the anglican church its a good organization she said they are proving to be responsible people she said that a sizeable profit had been realized her only complaint was that the ac tivities lasted too late into the night with reference to teenage problems she argu ed that they had not increas ed to the same extent that they were publicized mrs dedlow the mother of four stressed the need for discus sion between the parent and the child if you cant talk to them youre only hitting your head against a stone wall she said she observed that if young people are dif ferent today it is because they live in a completely changed society rev gordon gooderham grow up too soon rev gordon gooderham stouffville baptist church pastor said that the elimi nation of the oldfashioned spanking and the word no had lowered the stand ard of rules in many of the homes today he said that regulations curfews and age limitations were still neces sary he contended that no high school student should be out after midnight and teenage dating should not begin until 16 were making our young people grow up too soon he said he agreed with mr dux- hury that sons and daugh ters should be encouraged to bring their boy and girl friends home undesirc- ables wouldnt want to enter this kind of environment he said in reply to a statement that stouffvilles young peo ple have nothing to do rev gooderham outlined several activities of a recre ational nature both at the arena in the winter and in the park during the summer in addition he said that there had to be chores around the home that could occupy a teenagers time after school changed world mrs a a gresham speak ing from the audience de fended the teenagers desire for unorganized activities out of school we are deal ing with a changed world and we must think of it as it is and not as we would like it to be she observed that the home was no longer the centre of family activity im sick of the idea that young people should go straight home from school to work and study theyre not machines theyre hu man beings one speaker referred to the home as a house where parents resent a teenagers presence for fear of spilling coke on the broadloom allen lee one of the prime promoters of ths coffee house program said that stouffville teenagers wanted their own meeting place where under adult supervision they could dis cuss matters of mutual in terest dance and listen to records councillor tom lonergan said that a hall to be used particularly by teenagers could represent a 3 or 4 mill increase on the tax rate he said that it was rather strange that a com munity hall had never been promoted as a centennial project ah of a sudden one year later it emerges as a big problem on the question of a rec reation director councillor robt lewis said that such an employee had been discus sed at the park board level but had advanced no further he said that in his own opin ion there were plenty of halls already available in the town if put to a practical use he said that another similar project would repre sent a burden on the tax payer mrs peggy topping sug gested that a lack of proper organization seemed to be the basis for much of the present problem anne of green gables storybook comes true tr farm prices higher prices received by farm ers for agricultural products rose 12vi last year the dominion bureau of statis tics report it is said its index of farm prices stood at 2747 in dec ember 1965 up to 307 points from 244 in decem ber 1964 prices of nearly all farm products rose dur ing he year the index rose 84 points from november 1965 with higher prices for livestock and poultry products partly offset by lower prices lor potatoes the annual index for ont ario in 1965 with 1964 in dex in brackets 2934 2695 bloomington ann of green gables was a young miss who was brought up by very strict disciplinaries and who end ed up operating a nursing home for less privileged people she was a young girl who stole the hearts of millions of readers and who herself had a heart of gold notr there is o new ann of green gables and the circumstances are somewhat parallel ann lavine who with her husband lewis operates the green gables nursing home in blooming- ton was in fact named af ter the storybook heroine and was born in the same area in the maritimes known as the green ga bles manor the 92yearold home is on the ninth con cession about two miles north of stoufrville the la- vines purchased the prop erty last september and had it licensed as a nurs ing home on november 2nd they now have fourteen guests with future expan sion imminent in this day of modern nursing institutions green gables maintains a distinct air of the past and that is how it will stay its what our guests re member in the past said mr lavine the spacious rooms with high ceilings and older furniture the house itself being nearly a century old was the perfect setting the la- vines uiere looking for a similar home in the mark- ham area at first however high land costs forced them to look elsewhere when ross farquharson reeve of whitchurch township in formed the couple about green gables they immed iately purchased the prop erty mr lavine who once op erated a small newspaper in scarboro was born and rai sed in the east end of tor onto the couple were living there prior to moving to bloomington mr and mrs lavine live right on the property along with two members of their staff five persons are re quired to keep green gables operative besides the own ers they have a registered nurse nurses aides and kit chen help new aides can be trained right at the home and thus qualify for a certi ficate keeping the guests active is the major role of the la- vines the question is motiva tion lewis said we want to get these people to stop feeling sorry for themselv es the women enjoy knitt ing and crocheting as well as assisting in the kitchen with their own ideas and hints with the future plans completed the men will have their own area for gardening and a little farm ing live the job you cant go into this project halfheartedly said mrs lavine its a 24 hour job mrs lavine listens atten tively to her guests as they relate their troubles prob lems and most of all their priceless memories one lady was a high school teacher trhile one of the men it bs manufacturing executive now their best friend is their memory and someone who will listen since four of the beds are utilized by the owners and staff expansion of the premises is necessary the home is licensed for nine teen persons and will acco mmodate that many when a nearby garage is converted into a cottage bungalow all the rooms in the house thir teen to be exact are bright cheery and have plenty of room they are colourfully decorated with wallpaper and highlighted with flow ers in accordance with safety regulations fire ex tinguishers are placed stra tegically throughout both floors ot green gables out side is fourteen acres of land that come spring will be landscaped and cultivat ed hundreds of young fir trees will be planted around the perimeter of the proper ty forming a naturelike fence guests need attention howeverin all their plan ning and charting expand ing and building the la- vines still have one major problem their guests need all the attention they can get and what is provided by the staff is not enough what we want to do said mr lavine is to en courage service clubs and private citizens to show an interest in these people that way the guests wont feel that green gables and other nursing homes like it is just a dumping ground where they can be thrown and forgotten it seems like a pretty cold world when you discover that some people actually think that but the human elemant cant for one mo ment be forgotten no mat ter how old or feeble these people are no matter how bad their memory is they still belong to the human race and as members de serve the equal treatment as anyone else we want the people to see for themselves mr la- vine added medicine had figured out many ways for the senior citizens to remain active for many more years than they could have twentyfive years ago the least we can do is to keep them happy ann of green gables is try ing ann of green gables is story book famous and actually a story come true the green gables rest homo is located at bloomington in whitchurch tvvp and its operator is ann lavine staff photo when sticky wet snow collects on the snow blower it is necessary to clear it the motor should be shut off before any attempt is made to do this or the opera tor could lose fingers red cross is always there m its so easy benjamin moore chest hardware gss abbb i present improvement program citizens committee speaks before markham twp council buttonvilee the markharn town ship citizens committee headed by the chair man eric baker and including members don mcclcnnan lawson mumberson and howard cosburn attended a meeting of council last week and presented a rather extensive improvement- type program for the municipality mr mumberson a former councillor roman refcrr- depulyrccve urged the ing to the dutch elm dis- council to promote a tree- planting plan both on road sides throughout the town ship and on private proper- tics he said that many trees particularly elms had been removed and in the majority of cases never re placed he felt that if the council took the lead local citizens would follow he suggested that the types of trees already in the area should be retained through transplanting reeve stewart kumlile said he had attempted to plant trees outside his own farm premises hut most had been destroyed by the snow plow or killed by weed spray ease suggested that they should all be cut both on township roadsides and on private property he said that the ones still alive would retain some salvage value he felt that the town ship might offer some assis tance to private landowners in such a project road engineer dusan miklas informed the meet ing that to date 500 elms had already been removed mr baker said th3t he had observed that at some loca tions throughout the town ship there were pieces of old culvert pipe and other materials left at roadside construction sites councillor allan sumner said that a department pol icy ws for the foreman to clean everything up when the job was completed reeve rumble admitted that tiere was no organiz ed garbage collection pro gram throughout the town ship he said that some was picked up on a private basis while in other sec tions it was handled by the municipality he said that the io7ishlp did not make it a practice to enter onto private property unless a bylaw was contravened mr baker urged also that more castwest roads in the township be hardtopp ed he recommended too that the type of develop ment n the village of unionvillc should be con trolled in order that the nature of the community be retained councillor roman said that a private line could be in stalled if desired the coun cil agreed to check on the complaint of overloaded party lines