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p4trh3une february 191997 r st comment email address stouffvilletribune pressnetnet organ donation should be automatic unless vetoed transplants are not making front page news as they did 30 years ago but they are saving lives don ransberry brother of the stouf- fville tribune reporter joan ransberry turned 50 a few weeks ago that in itself is a medical miracle since his kidneys were ravaged by disease at the age of 21 back then young don became one of five recipients in a multiorgan transplant procedure that was highly publicized the youngster not only survived but has lead a healthy prosperous life ever since and hes ready to celebrate the rans berry family are getting set for their 16th annual barn stormin square dance with none other than another ransberry rela tive calling the squares the dance held at newcastle communi ty hall is a fundraiser for the kidney foundation tickets are 25 a couple and are avail able at the door if there are any left advance tickets can be purchased through the family at 9839678 or 4303 134 its dons way of saying thanks but he is not only kicking up some fun with 16 years of square dancing but is raising awareness of the good that comes from organ donation still after 30 years of successful organ transplants the majority of people fail to fill out the permission form on their dri vers licence many readers will know of someone alive today because of a transplant operation per haps its someone who can see with new eyes or pump oxygen with a new heart valve or filter toxins through new kidneys so mainstream are trans plants becoming that the legis lation would be more effective if the drivers licence permission form was used to indicate non- agreement rather than agree ment 4atfjv7 stouffville tribune 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 905 6402100 905 6492292 classified 905 6402874 fax 905 6405477 publisher patricia pappas general managereditor andrew mair editorinchief jo ann stevenson director of advertising debra weller retail manager mike rbgerson classified manager stacey allen distribution manager barry j goodyear administration vivian oneil operations mgr pamela nichols questions news andrew mair editor joan ltiasterry kathleen griffin mike adler reporters sjoerd witteveen steve somerville photographers julie caspersen copy editor retail advertising joan marshman catherine dunkeld classified bonnie rondeau real estate joan marshman distribution arlene maddock reception ruth le blanc the stouffville tribune published every wednesday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publish ing and distribution group of community newspapers which includes ajaxpickering news advertiser alliston heraldcourier barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post cityparent collingwoodwasaga con nection east york mirror etobicoke guardian george town independent- acton free press kingston this week lindsay this week midlandpenetanguishene mirror markham economist and sun milton canadian champi on mississauga news newmarketaurora erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakville beaver orillia today oshawawhitbyclaringtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond hillthornhillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror todays seniors uxbridge tribune contents cannot be reprinted without written permission from the publisher sum the ultimate alley holds time honored position while perusing the back aisles of the local convenience store looking for nofat snacks last week i came across a dusty old bag of marbles the shopkeeper had stuck a green price tag of 149 on it but it had been on the shelf so long the tag had faded to a neon yellow it was obvious that the product had been in the store for years this made me a little sad and i was very tempted to buy the little plastic bag just because it was obvious marbles have fallen out of favor with the techno- wired kids of today when i was growing up mar bles or alleys as we used to call them were my life everyday i would race to school an hour before the bell rang with my vel vet crown royal bag filled with my weapons of choice i would practice as much as i could then make my way to the tourna ment area for the first big match of the day alleys for the uninitiated involves digging a shallow bowl in the earth then a line six feet away from which competitors took turns throwing marbles the winner was the one who knocked all the marbles into the bowl as in eight ball trying to knock the marbles into the bowl involved calls like just a shot but also potsies which meant if you knocked it in you won all the marbles if you missed you lost everything i usually lost but being an inveterate gambler at heart i would come back day after day with more alleys we had many minute with mair an drew mair different types cats eyes were regular marbles beauts were colored ones and croaks were those jumbo marbles in every bag you bought at the store there were two or three croaks which increased their value sig nificantly the reason for my lack of success was that growing up in a niuiing town many kids whose fathers worked under ground had access to the ulti mate marble the steely steelies were simply vehicle ball bearings but their extra weight and heft made them almost impossible to beat we would often have eight or 10 competitors building up a huge pile of marbles and then some smart alec would whip out his steely and yeu pot with a sin gle easy roll this cheater would skunk the rest of us of dozens of marbles my parents were always furi ous when id get skunked com ing home sheepishly with my limp purple liquor bag in hand they disapproved of the whole process citing it as gambling of the worst sort but like the bar bies and power rangers of today it was hard to deny a kid what everyone else had their solution pay for them yourself i saved my allowance for weeks to buy bags of marbles by the gross but i didnt need to ill remember that day as one of the greatest in my life the epiphany came when i walked into the local sporting goods store that day and there it was the ultimate alley i take that old shotput out from time to time and polish the knicks made by a thousand tiny marbles if longevity means longer menopause no thanks avert your eyes fellas this ones for the broads being on the threshold of l i have an invincible excuse for behaving like an anarchist on angel dust its called menopause and its the fashion able subject du jour among women of a certain age in fact its all over the place like a rash these days because its a womens issue affecting senior boomers premenopausal manifesta tion or pmm i made that up but it sounds like something youd find in the life section of the star is undoubtedly the reason i have been crabby unpredictable and insolvent for the last 10 years it also accounts for my inability to get excited at the mention of rrsps tax shelters and the notes of gordon pape on cbc- am my insanity always peaks in february because a february is the month that god forgot to r- wrwiw w w eliminate and b it has not escaped even my notice that the end of the seemingly endless shortest month of the year is the deadline for the aforementioned acronyms with rwords in them youve hardly finished picking the pine needles out of your hair before you find yourself knee- deep in brochures flyers and advice columns on how to save money for your retirement to an adult lifestyle condominium this is tough on a refugee from the generation that always lived now and fervently hoped we wouldnt have to pay later because we were banking on dying before we got old and thus failed to ponder the wisdom of purchasing an adult lifestyle condominium in which to end our days so now we are old although continuing hotly to deny the fact and suffering from pmm with hardly two rrsps to rub togeth er meanwhile many of us have children who are filled with ado- kates corner kate ail de rd a i e lescent angst and rage against the machine which goes with pmm like curry and ice cream our children just dont under stand us in fact they hardly notice our existence except when they are seeking suste nance a set of wheels or money just when you begin to welcome the thought of your debtfilled childfree dotage however a southam news report comes up with the really bad news scientists say they are get ting closer to substantially increasing human life expectan cy even raising the possibility of an antiaging pill that could help people live to 120 years old this could mean that you will be around to suffer through not only your childrens but your grandchildrens pmm it means 120 endless febru arys and even less money for the vital things in life like mega- musicals performances at sky- dome by the three tenors and tickets to maple leaf gardens for a centurysworth of hockey seasons in which the leafs lan guish forever in the basement of the nhl in other words if pmm doesnt get you youll be driven to depression by the antiaging pill luckily for everyone espe cially generationxers it seems that even the boring boomers may be pushing up daisies before the pill takes its toll how ever since tests on the effective ness and safety of this dubious invention are still in their infan cy thus by future standards we will die before we get old which will allow us to prove our point that adolescence doesnt have to end at fifty j t f