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ptgt 2 the tribune thundiy juovy 11 1968 umiiiiiinimimmmimiiiiniiinmmnmmmmuiiihkiiimiuiimmiiiimiiiimiiiihinniiiinimiiihim a question of neurality at a recent meeting of markham township council two names were recommended to fill one position on the metropolitan toronto and regional conservation authority two votes were cast for each nominee ward 3 councillor charles hoover took a neu tral stand on the issue refusing even under pressure to favor one man over another reeve stewart rumble was left with no alternative but to declare mr hoovers neutrality as an automa tic yea vote in favor of the original motion we are both surprised and disap pointed when such a thing occurs we are surprised that councillor hoover would allow his feelings either person al or political to take preference over his obligation to vote on this or any issue by indicating a desire not to hurt anyones feelings he is only hurling himself no one can respect a fencesitter not even the individual that he is attempting to protect if pro tection was indeed the motive we are disappointed in the fact that such a matter should be debated in public issues of this kind could be de cided in committee thus saving public- servants the embarrassment of having their names bantered about for all to hear and read mr everett harpc- cer tainly a dedicated worker for the town ship over the years has even- reason to be irritated by such treatment as would others be if treated in a similar manner there are times when a little tactful diplomacy should be practiced this was one of those times attend one meeting in two years only a handful of residents attend ed the inaugural meeting of stouffville council thursday night the majority of those present had some direct con nection with civic altairs town em ployees and department heads were noticeable by their absence represen tatives from whitchurch township filled three of the empty chairs there was room for many more we feel that every ratepayer in stouffville should endeavour to attend at least one meeting of council dur ing the next two years we do not mean that they should come with a com plaint but come and hear how deci sions are reached and business is con ducted it is really very little to ask or expect we feel that the towns young people should make it a point to be present also not only the high school teens but the senior students from both orchard park and st marks the majority have never been inside the council cham bers contrary to the opinion of some the reeve and members of council are anx ious for ratepayers to take an interest in their local government they can point with pride at accomplishments during the past two years and hope that the same period of progress lies ahead in 196869 a few of us 34 showed enough interest to elect a council dec 4 but our duty should not end there new ideas and suggestions are always wel come the time to present those ideas and suggestions is the first and third thursday evenings of every month the next meeting is jan 18 make it a point to be present canada ignored but expo helped broadly speaking schools in the unit ed states ignore canada even though we are the closest neighbor this is not news and little progress seems to have been made over the years to remedy this situation the biggest plug we have ever had came this past year with expo on a recent trip to the us west coast i found that the minute canada was mentioned the word expo shot into the conversation this was the biggest show of its kind ever staged and it appealed to ameri cans who are no 1 when it comes to ballyhoo and showmanship for this reason alone they will not torget us tor a while dr gerald nason of the canadian teachers federation recently made a survey of the school situation from coast to coast he found canada enter ing only slightly in geography courses while those that touch on history and government are usually optional he noted with interst that us teach ing focused on trouble spots in the world so if we have enough trouble in canada we will get attention americans at large assume that we always see things as they dp it is not easy for us to make americans realize that we afe different surface similar ities can be deceptive and coming home from a period south of the border can be like slipping into comfortable old shoes we know a lot more about ameri cans than they know about us because we hear a lot more from them than they do from us the federation representatives have been in the states to see what can be done to persuade american schools to want to learn more about canada fixing christmas holiday little by little our holidays are being established so that they all fall on mon day which seems to be the most popu lar day for observance this season christmas day fell on monday and seemed to suit most people we note that in 1968 it will fall on wednesday this will not be too handy with box ing day on thursday and open again for work on friday the point is why not have christmas set on the calendar for monday every year just as we have most other nation al holidays this should also help as far as christmas sunday is concerned this would make this special sunday the day before christmas every year its a suggestion thats been made be fore and the change is not likely to be made this year or next but we would venture to predict that within a few years it will be established you know dear tores a similarity between you and liz tavlor mllliiiiiiiiiiiiiuliiiimlhiuiillililllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllimiiiiiiiiiiillllllllulllliflllllllllllmlllllliiiiimililllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllu sugar and spice letters to a teacher teachers get some pretty funny notes from parents explaining the absence of a pupil usually its because the har- rassed mother or father who stabs down anything at the last moment as the kid heading for the door and al ready late screams in dismay oh i gotta have a note thus you get such things as please excuse janes grandmother for being absent due to her illness the baffled teacher finally figures out that grand mother had the llu and jane had to stay home and look after her because mom cant miss a day at the shoe factory be cause thats the only way she can mus ter enough money to buy jane some de cent clothes so she can go to school so she can be a real whiz and help out granny and mom sometimes the notes are not so funny please excuse jim forbeljig late as he had to appear in court this morn ing for drunk and disorderly but it was the other guys fault well teachers arent the only ones who receive sad and funny letters the rest of the column will be made up of sentences taken from actual letters re- cieved by the toronto welfare depart ment from applicants for aid and assist ance they may explain why english teach ers look so stunned so much of the time the sentences will be in quote marks the comments will be whatever comes to mind i am very annoyed that you have branded my son illiterate as this is a lie i was married to his father a week be fore he was born she didnt mean illiterate she meant illegible in answer to your letter i have giv en birth to a boy weighing ten pounds i hope this is satisfactory really what could be more satisfactory unless i get my husbands money pretty soon i will be forced to lead an immortal life and good luck to you missus there should be a lot more of that type of positive thinking in the by bill smiley world this is my eighth child what are you going to do about it what in deed its certainly time somebody did something or stopped doing some thing i am glad to report that my husband who was reported missing is dead now there is a sentence of which mr hemingway would be proud not a syl lable too much or too little the emo tion is restrained note that she said glad not delighted and heres one with the same theme but a different twist please find for certain if my husband is dead the man i am living with cant eat or do any thing until he finds out theres drama for you theres tragedy think of the poor devil starving to death unable to smoke or drinkor pick- his teeth or pull the fluff out of his bellybutton hereanother that shows a nice re spect for beaurocracy in accordance with your instructions i have given birth to twins in the enclosed envel ope and they thought the pill was a big deal another mom writes i cannot get sick pay i have six children can you tell me why theres a beautiful logic there somewhere if you could just put your finger on it i havent any children as yet as my husband is a bus driver and works day and night but think of all that over time and finally it sounds like an old chestnut but teachers actually get notes like this i want money as quick as i can get it i have been in bed with the doctor for two weeks and he does nt do me any good if things dont im prove- will have to sendfor- another- doctor thisis medicare this week next the liberals no 1 choice a cold and frosty morning in whitchurch twp the winter scene crackled under twenty below zero temperatures in whitchurch township monday morning the frigid frosty countryside is pictured here in this view on cone 5 north of the aurora sldcroad staff photo editors mail restrictions too lax dear sir through your newspaper i wish to lodge a personal protest over the laxity of supervision at the st johns training school north of uxbridge it would appear that these lads leave the premises almost at will providing both the police and public no end of trouble and inconvenience theres hardly a week goes by that someones car isnt stolen other break- ins around the town have also been at tributed to these boys im not placing all the blame on the boys its only human nature for them to try to escape i do feel however that school officials should tighten their se curity so that the number of break outs might be reduced many others like myself are becoming a little fedup sincerely uxbridge resident action or else dear sir i have often questioned the accomp lishments of county council it would appear that there is a split between two areas the north and south it is unlikely that they will ever gel together to form one practical unit of anything with respect to education oucens park was forced into making the move the county would never have agreed on a singleboard plan i predict that other issues will also be settled by the province with no alternative but to fall in line sincerely john nicholson newmarket rr 3 in the contest now taking shape to choose canadas next prime minister many hopefuls will talk optimistically of answering a draft but if there is to be a draft movement to select the new liberal leader the only possible choice is justice minister pierre elliott trudeau trudeau the bold innovator of new social policies reflected in the recent changes in laws covering abortion di vorce capital punishment and sex be haviour is at this point the only gen uine noncandidate in cabinet ranks he is therefore the only leading lib eral figure who couldrespond to a draft movement because all the others will be out there actively campaigning for the party leadership and the prime ministers office which goes with it the chances of a draft trudeau move ment will depend almost entirely on the relative strength of the declared candi dates when the liberal party opens its leadership convention in ottawa april 4 the frontrunners including mitchell sharp paul martin paul hellyer and robert winters could go into the con vention with nearly equal strength if one cancels out the other and a com promise candidate is needed pierre elliott trudeau could emerge as the ideal new look liberal leader one of the factors that may lead to a stalemate among the frontrunners is that the top four prospects are all from ontario by splitting the ontario dele gation four ways none of them will have the big edge by which an ontario favorite son candidate could carry the convention there will be other candidates such as john turner of montreal jean mar- chand of quebec and eric kierans of montreal there will be no strong west ern or maritime challengers although winters has a maritime background while all leading candidates have ex perience and ability going for them they all have strong factors working against ihcm in addition to the split in by ray argyle the ontario vole finance minister sharp faces the task of overcoming the taxmans image nev er an easy job hes being blamed for both high taxes and high costs the fate of canadas last three finance ministers liberal walter gordon tory donald fleming and liberal walter harris back in the louis st laurent govern ment suggests this job is not exactly the stepping stone to the pms office paul martin has his age going against him too old just as john turner is considered by many to be too young robert winters probably one of the most capable administrators in our po litical history has a right wing im age and his election as leader would tend to reserve the traditional roles of the liberal and conservative parties in their relation to big business manpower minister jean marchand has no great appeal outside quebec and transport minister paul hellyer while widely known from his controversial days as defence minister when he forc ed unity on the armed forces has not had time to establish any kind of rec ord in his new portfolio eric kierans a former provincial cabinet minister in quebec and president of the quebec liberal federation lacks a broadly based national following all this seems to lead inevitably back to pierre elliott trducau the 47- year old graduate of harvard and the london school of economics the swinging bachelor of only two years experience in parliament who shocked the house of commons by showing up one day in slacks sport jacket and as cot trudeau has made no move to con test the leadership and probably wont except to respond to a draft but every thing about him his age his image his record as justice minister his op position lo the twonations theory and in fact his very frenchcanadian back ground could make trudeau the most colorful and dynamic choice when the chips are down at i he liberal con vention he snftune established 1888 c h nolan publisher jim thomas editor noel edey advertisinr published every thursday by the stouffville tribune limited at 51 main st stouftvillr ont tel frio2101 single copies 10c subscriptions 400 per year in canada 600 elsewhere member of audit bureau of circulation canadian weekly newspapers association and ontario weekly xcwspaprs association authorized as second class mail post office dcpt ottawa 3whjru race against time without wishing to appear too per sonal wed very much like to peer into a few homes of average stouffville par ents on an average midweek mid winter morning and learn what sched ule they employ to hustle and bustle their children off to school on time while most dads are well on their way to work before the storm strikes others not quite so fortunate all tell the same hairraising tales most inclu ding myself would prefer to crawl a little deeper under the covers and pray that the hallway holocaust between bedroom and bath is just one horrible nightmare sooner or later we all must wake up to reality and face the music the discord ranges between a tune called wheres my other sock mom to i cant tell my right foot from my loft to add to the turmoil of meeting the nine oclock deadline for two two oth ers must be attended to a mother milli pede couldnt cope with all their de mands unlike most homes in stouffville the confusion at wakeup time is not caus ed by everyone flying around too fast on the contrary just the opposite is true the kids never seem to shift out of low gear they occupy the toilet like it was the only seat in the house they wash like the water came from the river jordan and their teeth are brush ed inside out and upside down at the breakfast table everything stops for the blessing and starts ten minutes later after each has had a choice of a halfdozen different brands of cereal from the first mouthful to the last their mother stands by counting off at regular intervals the minutes that are left i seldom eat a morning meal its not that i dont require the nourishment for i do like the kids i cant spare the time so i settle for a midmorning coffee and doughnut down street be- t sides one more body at the table could be the straw to break the camels back and too much depends on the mainten ance of her good health to impose any further hardship although the confusion on an average workaday morning is nerveshaking enough the worst occurred on the tue- sdajfollowingthe christmas vacation period we all slejjt in mother had set the clock radio foy wally crowter on cfrb but not knowing this i had given the dial a quick switch to jungle jaye nelson on chum it ended up some where in between and brought in the faint whisper of a disc jockey in phila delphia no one heard a word in fact if the youngest hadnt wet her pants and required an instantaneous change we might have remained in a state of suspended animation until noon it was exactly 845 when our feet hit the floor everything began to fly in all directions never have i seen our kids move so fast they didnt really under stand what it was all abouti one thought the house was on fire no time to brush the teeth no time for break fast no prolonged stay in the bath room just in and out youll have to drive them came the order never mind shaving take your razor to work your hair looks good enough heres a tube of brylcrecm put your tie in your pocket wear last sundays shirt your rubbers i dont know youll have to go in your shoes your shoes dont ask me maybe they are under the bed no you cant wear your slippers your coat oh i forgot its at the cleaners wear your old one ive got two kids to get ready youll have to look after yourself just sprink le a little cold water on your face enough to open your eyes your eyes are open then what are you doing with my bandana around your neck i never saw anyone so helpless youre worse than the kids heres your wal let dont forget your keys be careful crossing main street youd better walk the kids to the school door if you see the principal try and explain what hap pened and so on and so on wc headed for the car all three of us on the dead gallop after a couple of stalls from an icecold motor wc leap frogged east on rupert to fairview bucked on down to sunset boulevard to orchard park school there wasnt a sign of a single child on the street im sorry kids i guess we didnt make it i said apologetically the youngest look ed like he was about to cry never mind its not your fault i wont let it happen again it was exactly four minutes past nine you dont need lo go in with us said fhe oldest i think the teacher will understand other kids are late sometimes too i just hope ive re membered to wear everything im sup posed to she unzippercd her coat just to make sure there was a dress underneath yes im okay i think she replied in answercing her own ques tion the youngest had his snow boots on the wrong feet and the front of his pants was undone but other than that he was all in one piece t i watched them as they trotted to the door but the door wouldnt open it was locked tight then and only then did i remember that school did not begin again until the wednesday after new years not tuesday rather than four minutes too late they were twcntyfour hours too early im still not convinced which is worse-