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a4 tribune april 19 1989 editors mail still take prisoners dear editor the march 1 issue of the tribune contained a letter written by adam johnstone of rr 1 stouffville it made me angry at the time and i havent fully recovered mr johnstone in a very in timidating manner poked fun at the thought of females serving up front in the armed forces he should hang his head in shame this in my opinion is discrimination in its worst form several of mr johnstones sug gestions make no sense for exam ple an enemy solder might be hesitant to kill a women in hand-to- hand combat so be it has the writer never heard of people being taken prisoner it happened you know both in world war i and ii mr johnstones reference to female soldiers as amazons is un- forgiveable im 5 feet 11 inches tall and weigh ho pounds therefore i could be classed as an amazon but i wouldnt be afraid to enter the miss bikini contest if thats the criteria mr johstone is looking for in describing a real female rather than anger i should feel sorry for the writer hes the loser if he still so discriminates against women as his letter indicates this is 1989 not 1914 sincerely tracey gellman ballantrae lloyd brittons j 7f rii3cjv fr the tribune established 1888 james thomas patricia pappas deborah weller jennifer hutt editor publisher advertising manager distribution manager retail advertising susan berry manager charles canning real estate classified advertising joan marshman real estate manager dorothy young m distribution sandy kiteley ariene maddock business office manager chris bertram doreen deacon national sales representative metroland corporate sales 4931300 the stewffvilje tribune puwshed every wednesday frxttv and sunday 3t 54 man sty west swutfvdte ontario j one o the metrcjand printing publishing and distndutng grpup ot community newspapers hcn include the acon fw press aapidertng news adverrser aurora banner barne banner advance qranpton guadan burtngton post etotxoke advertiser guardian georgetown 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withdrawn its support principal peter bright wants the prom to take place at the school the events been ruled strictly private at any outside location there are two sides to this issue serving as chaperones at a non- school site places too much onus on staff mr bright claims the prom committee sees the school gymnasium generating too little excite ment they want may 26 to be a night the students will remember in this instance we think the school administration is negating its respon sibility we also think its showing a sur prising lack of faith whether or not the prom receives the principals blessing is immaterial in the eyes of the public its still a high school dance involving high school students it should be chaperoned by high school staff lets face it the gymnasium cant win the threat of an ontario municipal board hearing is bad news for council it represents additional time addi tional work and additional expense invariably the town endeavors to iron things out before citizen protests go this far admittedly many complaints are trivial a waste of time and money to avoid this preomb reviews are held if resident beefs appear legitimate the hearing in all likelihood will proceed if the petitioners lose they cover the cost but even if they win theyre still assessed the expense dollarwise this adds up to a nowin situation its grossly unfair we say if the protesters lose they should pay but should the com plainants emerge victorious the town should pay the policy should be changed however beautifully decorated is still a blah site for such an event students to day with their ties and tails crinoline gowns orchid corsages and stretch limousines want more than this if the administration wont approve theyll go it alone and this is what they plan to do at this stage theres no turning back we urge the administration to reverse its decision show a little faith and make the prom a night of nights for all pride goelli before a fall in my case conceit goeth before a crash only three weeks ago i bragged in this very column about my excellent driving record i boasted of nothing more than a few fender scrapes in 43 years and it was all very true two million accidentfree miles was an accomplish ment of which i was justly proud so i elected to tell the whole world about it in doing so i intentionally omitted one small but important piece of infor mation the close calls the near misses the splitsecond differences bet ween life and death wife jean tactfully reminded me of these as she sat reading my epistle dur ing a quiet moment before bedtime then she began listing those moments which but for the grace of god could have been catastrophes like the second night of our honey moon heading east on he westbound lane of the pennsylvania turnpike or falling asleep on the bloomington itoad and coming to a stop in a farmers field or zipping over the top of a gravel hill to discover to my surprise a fire truck parked crossways a short distance below no these wouldbe horror stories i didnt mention a miss is as good as a mile i shrug ged switching the subject to something more pleasant my spouse only shook her head had i taken her ominous warning to heart i wouldnt be sitting here my palms and forehead wet with perspira tion and my nerves a tangled mess yes my accidentfree ego trip came to a metalcrunching end monday mor ning not deadend fortunately but close too close for comfort the crash occurred at the intersection of mccowan road and bullock drive in markham the time was shortly after 1 am no im not about to bore you with details i wont because i cant i remember little of what happened in fact ten days after it all seems like a terrible nightmare it was some time after midnight when i left the office to pick up the newspapers cartoon on karma drive west of markvillc mall i recall approaching mccowan and the light was red suddenly there was a flash of white directly in front the subsequent crash sent my car into a 180 degree spin the steering wheel rammed my chest and my head hit the windshield dazed i sat there several seconds not knowing where i was or what had happened then i jumped out searching vainly at first for the other guy his car had careened backwards down an embankment only the front bumper was visible the driver was pinned inside at first i tried to call for help on his cellular phone but it wouldnt work then i requested a nearby service stai tion attendant to notify police and an ambulance officers arrived quickly so did am bulance personnel and firefighters the victim was soon whisked away to hospital as i stood there shivering in the chill of that earlymorning night it seemed like the world had suddenly come- crashing down upon my head in a splitsecond everthing had changed two cars badly damaged one man in hospital and me deeply depressed but its never that bad that it couldnt- be worse my friends keep saying and ii suppose theyre right somebody could be dead right realizing this my family has also been kind they could have replied we told you so a comedown i deserve however theyll settle for the fact my bragging days arc over the scale has balanced out on april 10 1 returned to earth with a- thud only with the little luck i had left the downward path could have con- tinned an additional six feet music mania the way thev were more than a quarter centur ago back in the early 70s when music mania was organized the cast was almost entirely black face later the stouffville united church couples club altered its presentation thinking it might be considered a form of discrimination this formal photo was taken on the high school stage back about 1972 in the centre is bud sanderson on the far left is ccc hendricks and on the far right jim rchill and jerry waitc the 1989 edition of music mania opens april 27 and continues through april 29 ted cadieux photo t a