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i the tribune thursday nov i 173 i i i i i i i 1 l established 1888 chakles ii nolan publisher james thomas associate publisher and editor robert mccalsland advertising director published every thursday by inlarri publishing co limited at 54 main st scouifvill oot tel ot0 trasto phone 3611680 single copies 15 ncscriotions 600 per year in canada 1500 elsewhere member of audit bureau of circulation canadian community xearspapets association and ont- iric weekly newspapers association second class mail registration number 0896 editorials claremont 4 a multithousand dollar bypass is nearing completion east of the former village of claremont for some the opening of this roundabout road will be welcomed relief relief from the constant flow of heavy gravel truck traffic on weekdays and a steady stream of summer cottage commuters on weekends the peace and quiet that residents once knew will return but what a price to pay had the orginal brock road route been taken as anticipated by ontario county claremont would now have a brand spanking new main street complete with sidewalks curbs and sewers in addition to an immensely improved appearance the project would have cost less money and would have been completed much sooner for those who treasure the usedtobe we draw attention to the village of brooklin one need only to recall the oast and look at the present to note the change for the better the village of pickering is another example except there the natives have the best of two worlds a bypass and a re modelled internal road svstem its beautiful so let this be a lesson to other com- munitees unionville included there are worse things for a main street than traffic one of these is no traffic at all a welcomed contribution stouffville was a witness to youth in action friday the procession spearheaded by a fund- raising drive was in aid of the march of dimes an early estimate placed the campaigns total at close to 1000 a tremendous success this project like others taken on by the young people of this community only sub stantiates our earlier claim that students represent a powerful force for good when their energies and enthusiasms are properly organized this newspaper has been criticized for publishing stories related to the problems of youth we will continue to do so however we do not go looking for this kind of thing what we do look for are the contributions to society made by young people such a contribution occurred in stouff ville friday and hundreds of crippled folk say thank you editors mail disastrous impact dear mr thomas the tribune of october 18 headlined noise zone land is a political football and blasts land freeze the present land freeze came about by agreement between the ministry of transport and the government of ontario ontario agreed to zone against urban development to save ottawa the cost of purchasing the airport noise lands 60000 acres if and airport is required it makes sense to keep development away from the flight paths people already living in the noise areas are the uncompensated losers and in justice not softened by adding to their num bers the flight path goes north and south of stouffville the first published government noise map showed the whole town to be located in a high noise zone since then the maps have been redrawn the airport has a disastrous impact on stouffville to be at the backside of an airport between the included angle of two runway systems is not an enviable position let it be hoped that town council will put its full weight behind assuring that the airport will never be built only cancellation of the project can eliminate the black cloud over the whitchurch stouffville pickering markham and uxbridge communities v lome almack rr 2 claremont sugar and spice those were the good old days in a nostalgic mood today ive been ihinkiiig thai with the onslaught of the speed age many of our fine old canadian traditions have fallen by the wayside died on the vine or simply lain down and curled up their toes one of the first to go of course was the blacksmith it hurts me to face the truth that most people today under thirty have never known the sensory joys of a blacksmiths shop at this time of year small boys used to squeeze through the ramshackle door ana edge as close as they could to the fire freezing their bums and roasting their cheeks there was a fine acrid stench of horse manure and scorched hooves there was the leaping flame as the bellows blew there was the ringing clang as the smith beat out the whitehot metal between hammer and anvil and the satisfying hiss when the hot metal was plunged into the cold water at a certain age most male kids would have settled happily for the life of a blacksmith a free soul who spent his days doing the most fascinating work in the world the decline of the smithy of coursewas brought about by the gradual phasing out of another tradition the horsedrawn vehicle i wonder how many kids of this generation have ever spent a winter saturday catching bobs this was our term for jumping on backs of farmers sleights all day long the farmers came and went to and from town and all day long we hopped on behind a load of grain left that for a load of supplies going the other way picked up a sleigh piled with logs for the return trip and shivered with delighted fear as the farmers shouted at us even sometimes flourished their whips in our direction as we grew a little older about 12 we graduated to catching on the wing a cutter 1 this was more daring and more dangerous because they could really fly the runner was much smaller and the farmer could turn around and belt you one on the ear most of them of course were pretty decent i know now that they were more worried about us getting hurt in a fall than they were about the extra weight their horses had to pull then there were the butchers cutters these consisted of a sort of box with runners beneath and a step at the back for the driver to stand on the horses were not plugs but real roadrunners that went like a bat out of hell they were every bit as exciting as a roman chariot and the drivers were the envy of every boy in fur caps reins in one hand whip in the other as they tore through the town like furies and i wonder how many boys have played hockey all day on a frozen river when a hard shot the goalie missed might slide for a quarter of a mile we never had to worry about icetime i or changing lines we could play until we were pooped then sit by the bonfire until rested and have another go and by bill smiley there were always twenty or thirty playing at once so everybody got a whack at the puck some great stickhanders came out of that era think of the depths to which we have sunk- the smithy with its light and shadows its reds and blacks its earthy smells its sense of life has been replaced by the garage a sterile thing with its cement floor its reek of gas and oil and its unspoken assurance that thisisgonnacostyouplentybuddy the cutter swift and light as a bird no longer skims the snow it has been replaced by a stinking snarling skidding beast that only modern man could abide the snowmobile no more meatcutters careening around the corners on one runner delivering in any weather now we plod like zombies through the supermarket to moronic pipedin music and pick up the odourless antiseptic cellphaned packages the great gods dominion loblaw or safeway have assigned to us and carry them humbly to our cars three blocks away our kids have to get up at five am to play hockey and if theyre not real killers get about four minutes icetime ah those were the days and i havent even begun on the most vital of all winter equipment the puck consisting of a frozen horsebun roaming around nicknamesthey sometimes stick markhams solution to the housing cameraman on cone 9 north of hwy 7 it is shortage its possible but not probable this wm and can accommodate ap to teepee was spotted by a tribune wt persons ji thomas in a previous column i told a little about a game we play around the table every evening every evening im home that is its called what happened at school to day the explanations sometimes long sometimes short are always interesting to us anyway recently when making the rounds susans turn to speak came last shes our oldest and in grade 8 now she knows and we know that ac tivities at stouffville higheven in the sesame street section are neverending after all with a population the size of a small village there must be something exciting to tell and there usually is the junior band assemblies fund drives field trips projects the list goes on and on however on this particular day there had been nothing nothing at all i was sceptical but not wishing to pry into something that was personal i took it easy are you sure there wasrri something just one thing wed all like to hear about i asked she lowered her head and looked em barrassed oh come on i pressed it cant be all that bad im not sure she answered its about you f thats when it hit me right between the eyes i wanted to change the subject but there was no turning back someone had obviously dug up some grizzly tale from my academic past and relayed it on into another generation okay so i was a flop in art so what and yes i found geometry tough and physics too but i did excel in a few things like like my memory went blank v susan sensed my concern wishing to relieve my mind and maybe hers she went on it was question and answer period in class today she said the kids could ask anyone a question and that person was supposed to answer okay so someone asked you a question about me i replied do you want to tell me what it was alright she answered one boy wanted to know if you minded being called scoop i didnt really know what to say but i told him i guessed not was i right who calls you that where does it come from boy was i relieved is that all i replied and everybody laughed susan too but where does it come from dad questioned barry unwilling to let the subject drop ive never heard you called that before i had to explain when i joined the tribune 22 years ago i said i had neither a car nor a camera i would toot around town in a vehicle provided by the publisher and usually hitchhiked to and from work every morning and night on emergency occasions i borrowed my fathers ford my first car was a wartime chevrolet of 1942 vintage then two meteors both used and in 54 a brandnew ford what a beaut about the same time i invested 350 in a camera the ford is longgone but the cameras still going by jim thoaaas together the car the camera and i became the scourge of the countryside when the fire siren sounded whoosh we were gone flashing lights be it a tow truck an ambulance or a cruiser and varoom we were off in hot pursuit the word got around pretty soon the police started calling dont say where it came from but it sounds like a bad one on hwy 48 at byers bridge the desk sergeant at buttonville would whisper i was galloping out the door before he could say goodbye local switchboard operators were good too that was when the telephone office was on main street and the staff considerably more personalized in its makeup than to day they knew everything then in 55 1 went big time i- inserterd ads in the tribune promising to pay people for hot tips on news stories the response was tremendous as a country stringer for the telegram i had the guys at the toronto star going crazy they tried to keep up but couldnt it was a scoop story every week sometimes every day hence the name on occasions when i meet the current crop of high school kids on the street they call it out scoop often in a derogatory tone but do i mind am i embarrassed not a bit in fact id return to that time to morrow if only i had the chance wouldnt we all i