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the tbjbvse thursday december c u te hbune james thouas editorinchief established 1888 charles a nolan publisher barrebeacock advertising manager eoftoiual oept jaaoa tboopton jk holt otsplav aqvbmslho oept lot wmwin maria fmmaraon business offlce joan hantaan oman daacon dtan gfcar pubhahad ary tnuraday at 54 main sl stoofmua ont tal mo2101 toronto phona 3411680 sjngla coplaa 20 c aubacrlptioos 1000 par yaar in canada j2s00 auaihara marabar o canadian community nawapapara association and ontario waauy nawapapara association sacond clasa mail registration numbar mm z tba trttmina is ona of lha inland pubushing co limitad group of suburban nawapapara which to- dodaa tha ajax whitby picturing naws adrartiaar brampton guardian burlington post eto cazatta atarknam economist and sun nawmarkat aurora eraoamba baamr oahawa this waak mlssisaauga nam oahawa this waakand acton fraa press mjhon canadian champion and tha gaorgatoam indapandanl 6402100 3611680 editorials a heart- warming response stouffvilles first refugee family from the far east arrived on friday from vietnam this particular group consisting of two married couples and a sister of one of the women an 11yearold is being sponsored by an independent committee that is made up of a couple of ministers and other interested citizens this is just the beginning of a worthwhile response to human need and suffering with others expected to arrive under the spon sorship of the missionary church gormley missionary church wesley united church springvale baptist church and other religious denominations canada is known around the world for its humanitarian image and we see it portrayed here in our own area a communtiy working together for the good of human beings less fortunate than ourselves every effort is being made to make these people welcome in their new homes while the first family to arrive in stouffville last week was not churchsponsored the churches here are to be commended for their response the first family to arrive in the area last summer was sponsored by wideman mennonite church steeles avenue mennonite hager- man mennonite and cedar grove mennonite there is a minority of canadians who oppose this influx of new citizens some who think only anglosaxons or europeans should be allowed in and others who fret about lost jobs however the truth is that there are thousands of unfilled jobs the type that home grown canadians scoff at these refugees will quickly fill these positions and be more than happy to do so canada is a very large country an ex tremely wealthy country sparsely populated wellequipped to help and we commend all those who are working together in this humanitarian effort st nick arrived in style there are times when weve quietly questioned the benefits of a santa claus parade the expense the time the work and the worry all for a procession that passes by a given point in less than an hour is it worth it undoubtedly the sponsors as well as the participants have posed the same question to themselves is it really worth it well ask ourselves no moreand should those who take part after saturdays promenade without a doubt the best ever in stouffville this is not just our opinion everyone we talked to or heard talking to each other said the same in fact if anything it was too good bordering on the professional and a hard act to follow when another year rolls around the kinsmen and kinette clubs of stouffville are to be congratulated so are the other service organizations the schools the churches and singular entries what one event could possibly attract more people to town what one could possibly muster greater cooperation what one event could possibly create more en joyment none the stouffville santa claus parade remains the years foremost attraction long may it last bypasslesser oityro evils gormley residents are greeting with mixed feelings the approach of hwy 404 some see it as a blessing to others its a disaster certainly the community will never be the same initially the thought of blockading the old eastwest route through the hamlet seemed unthinkable and we still dont like it however the alternative a bypass around the builtup area now seems the lesser of two evils certainly better than knocking down homes and forcing people to move therell be inconvenience sure there always is when men and machines combine forces in the name of progress but therell also be benefits most of which wont be ap preciated until the project is completed if you approve if youre opposed or like many just confused attend the public meeting jan 8 at 2 pm in the regional engineering office woodbine avenue north of the aurora sideroad and obtain the facts first hand snow snow beautiful snow while the first real snowfall of the winter saturday afternoon didnt please everyone the kids were ready and waiting even to the point of sister polling sister ten year old michelle watuns of market street stoaff vflle didnt mind a bit and neither did candy age sit jim thomas from vietnam with love and affection roaming around jogging critic with no heart by jim thomas every morning i see him around 630 maybe earlier hes a friendly chap always waves often speaks if close enough to be heard i dont know him nor does he know me not personally its just that well the pedestrian traffics not overly congested at that hour so one tends to talk to everything the squirrels the rabbits even an occasional skunk if the seasons right its a great time of the day the best the exchange of greetings between this guy and myself may occur anywhere between william and edward streets our timings never so exact that we cross paths at exactly the same place why because were both movers on foot im a walker and hes a v runner or jogger as theyre called today he sets a torrid pace long easy strides with no apparent exertion sometimes he carries a hockey stick for balance i guess while ive attempted to appreciate what this gentlemans obviously trying to ac complish ive been cynical not just to him but to others like him even in front of my kids look at that ive said over and over again whats he trying to prove and of ten you must admit they do appear kind of foolish fullgrown men and women plodding up and down the roads and sidewalks as so often happens my children have adopted a similar attitude to the point where they expect a ride to the corner store for a jug of milk they also laugh like these people are all a little bit nutty and thats bad but iye no one to blame but myself now it seems my cynicisms coming back to haunt me and indeed believe it or not i may be joining stouffvilles growing group of joggers by necessity if not by choice for ive been told in no uncertain terms im in terrible shape a recent test bears this out it was paul roney the puller of purse strings at the bank of nova scotia who t coerced me into attending a lionssponsored fitness clinic at latcham hall friday af ternoon to be honest i was glad he asked for i considered myself a 160 pound version of charles atlas in the peak of condition and why not i dont smoke dont drink and dont overeat what better care could i take of myself than that this i was soon to learn irene korgul a graduate kinesiologist one who deals in body movement welcomed me into a rather secluded section of the auditorium and unashamedly requested i bare myself from the waist up which i did she then preceded to take my blood pressure not once but twice that alarmed me a little but there was no cause everything was a- okay so was irene she talked like shed known me all my life the type of work i did how many kids any serious illnesses and so on then she got down to the nittygritty how active are you she asked s sugar and spice becoming a nation of slobs by bill smiley- there has been a tremendous change in the manners and mores of canada in the past three decades this brilliant thought came to me as i drove home from work today and saw a sign in a typical canadian small town steakhouse and tavern now this didnt exactly knock me out alarm me or discombobulate me in any way i am a part of all that is in this country at this time but it did give me a tiny twinge hence my opening remarks i am no carrie nation who stormed into saloons with her lady friends armed with hatchets and smashed open what a waste the barrels of beer and kegs of whiskey i am no joan of arc i dont revile blasphemers or hear voices i am no pope john paul ii who tells people what to do about their sex lives i am not even a joe clark who rushes up to a barricade prepared to jump for some votes then decides to go back to the startingline and send in a real athlete robert stanfield an older and wiser athlete to at tempt what he knew he couldnt do and the he is joe i am merely an observer of the human scene in a country that used to be one thing and has become another but that doesnt mean i dont have opinions i have nothing but scorn for the modern objective journalists who tell it as it is they are hyenas and jackals who fatten on the leavings of the lions of our society for the most part i admire a few columnists richard needham of the toronto globe allan fotheringham of macleans notbecause tbey are great writers but because tbey hew the wood for which this country is famous and let the chips fall where they may thats the way it should be lets get back on topic as i tell my students the canadian society has roughened and coarsened to an astonishing degree in the last thirty years first the steakhouse and tavern as a kid working on the boats on the upper lakes i was excited and a little scared when i saw that sign in american ports duluth detroit chicago i came from the genteel poverty of on tario in the thirties and i was slightly ap palled and deeply attracted by these signs the very thought that drink could be publicly advertised lake any normal curious kid i went into a couple ordered a twobit whiskey and found nobody eating steaks but a great many people getting sleazily drunk on the same not the steaks in those days in canada there was no such creature the very use of the word tavern indicated iniquity it was an evil place we did have beer parlours later exchanged for the euphemism beverage rooms but that was all right only the lower element went there and they closed from 6 pm to 730 or some such so that a family man could get home to his dinner not a bad idea in their homes of course the middle and upper class drank liquor beer was the workingmans drink and to be shunned it was around then that some wit reversed the old saying and came out with work is the curse of the drinking class a neat version of marxs drink is the curse of the working classes if you called on someone in those misty days you were offered a cuppa and something to eat today the host would be humiliated if he didnt have something harder to offer you now every hamlet seems to have its steakhouse complete with tavern its rather ridiculous nobody today can afford a steak but how in the living world can these same people afford drinks at current prices these steakhouses and taverns are usually pretty sleazy joints on a par with the old beverage room which was the opitome of ft 0 quite i answered such as she asked and here i thought id really shine i told her between walking the dog delivering papers and going to and from the restaurant for coffee id travel maybe two miles a day but she only frowned walking doesnt do your heart any good she stated bluntly no continuous exertion to strengthen the muscles aha but im taking up golf i shot back confidently like it too lots of exercise there golf thats no goodeither she replied q frowning still more do you ride a bicycle she asked no i answered do you swim a lot no again do you jog daily never on completion of the third degree she wired me up to some kind of machine and requested i run up and down three steps for three minutes in tune to music that was simple didnt bother me a bit but the results did 322 the graph read the bare minimum 1 felt faint so woozy in fact i had to sit down the terrible truth was too much to take sj but ive learned a lesson ive joined the stouffville joggers club you can see me every morning panting up and down rupert avenue between westlawn crescent and the ninth and dont dare laugh or youll catch a running shoe in the ear if i have the strength to throw it that far o sleaze its not all the fault of the owners though they make nothing on the steak and 100 per cent on the drinks minimum its just that canadians tend to be noisy and crude and profane drinkers and the crudity isnt only in the pubs it has crept into parliament that august in stitution with a prime minister who used street language when his impeccable english failed or he wanted to show how tough he was it has crept into our educational system where teachers drink and swear and tell dirty jokes and use language in front of women that i a product of a more wellmannered or inhibited your choice era could not bring myself to use and the language of todays students from grade one to grade whatever would curl the hair of a sailor and make your maiden aunt grab for the smelling salts words from the lowest slums and slummiest barnyards create rarely a blush on the cheek of your teenage daughter a graduate of the depression when people had some reason to use bad language in sheer frustration and anger and of a war in which the most common fourletter word was used as frequently and absentmindedly as salt and pepper have not inured me to what our kids today consider normal girls wear tshirts that are not even funny merely obscene as do boys saw one the other day on an otherwise nice lad message thanks all you virgins for nothing the queen is a frump god is a joke the 4 countrys problems are somebody elses problem as long as i get mine i dont deplore i dont abhor i dont implore i merely observe sadly we are turning into a nation of slobs 9