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p4fconomist sun tubdaymavvis 1997 st tuesday may 13 1997 vol 109 no 21 the tribune comment opinions send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial prisons are not solution to crime readers of these pages will know that a prison may be in the offing for the area and while pris ons bring jobs the debate is often centered on the nimby not in my backyard principle instead residents of this provincial riding should be wrestling with the question of whether more prisons is a solution at all statistics and all research indicates that committing someone to prison will not solve the problem in fact sending someone to prison is asking for more and worse trouble prisoners are rarely rehabilitated research has long borne out that sending some one to jail for a minor offence simply teaches them how to be a better criminal the theory of penance simply does not work certainly we must restrain violent and dangerous criminals from encountering society but locking up every one who smokes a marijuana cigarette or gets too many speeding tickets is a waste of taxpayer dollars there are other more suitable punish ments we dont need new prisons we need new crime- fighting solutions entertainment section is all about you let us entertain you this is in a nutshell the idea behind our new and improved entertainment section that appeared for the first time last thursday newspapers are here to inform the reader of whats happening but we also have the pleasure of entertaining you for access to much of the news there are logical places to look for political news we can sit in on local council meetings for education news we travel to the school board hq or call around to local schools to find out whats happening but the arts and entertainment that form the cultural base of your communi ty are not so obvious there are a lot of hidden talents out there and wed like to know about each and every one of them were planning lots of movie reviews as well as a listing of events in the three communities that make up our division but entertainment covers so much more than the musician the painter and the actor parents let us know about your son or just a note julie caspersen daughter whos left town and is now the understudy in an off broadway play im sure theres a cartoonist out there whod be willing to let us into his studio to teach us theres more to his work that line drawings and words in a bubble being old is next happening thing last week i dropped into the drug store and picked up a copy of fifty plus a freebie publication for the mature reader although i was still days away from my dotage certain facts needed facing i wasnt getting better i was getting older and it was time for me to check out the thrills and spills of life in the slow lane on page one there were a couple of stories about inspir ing people who had overcome adver sity and were still going strong even though they were old enough to be my parents beneath them lurked a mega ad for financial services indeed judging by the overall commercial content senior citizens get to read about rrsps estate planning and annuities year round instead of just in febru ary this did not come as glad tidings to a chronologically mature reader with a woefully adolescent attitude to forward planning most of the ads were accompanied by photos of privileged white males in suits one of whom appeared to be wearing a rug from the emporium made famous by the jet black bangs of jag bhadauria purveyors of den tures funeral services and fish and kates corner kate gilderdale chips were also amply represented editorial content included an overview of services for snowbirds who spend the winter months in florida an article on male impotence which cheerfully advised readers that sure you are no longer what you used to be and a dissertation on helping your children build a founda tion for retirement im guessing of course but i imagine you have to have a foundation of your own to build on first so i skipped that bit practical advice abounded and there was a whole feature devoted to bridge but nowhere was there a sec tion for seniors with an attitude hells grannies or people bent on growing old disgracefully of course with aging boomers such as myself cross ing the threshold of the half century in massive numbers that lack will surely be remedied immediately if not sooner at a shopping mall near you once upon a time in the 70s a dire period of bad hair and worse clothing which has somehow gained a reputation for leading edge coolness in the 90s a friend gave me a book entitled its hard to be hip over 30 at the time i was hovering on the brink of that august age going through the angst for which my gen eration is tiresomely famous and already mourning my lost youth back then the people who brought us everything from the weather to aluminum siding had not quite cot toned onto the fact that flattery would get them everywhere now that 30 seems like just another stage of child hood however theyre working on making old the next happening thing it already started in england where a levis campaign features three craggy geezers 69 79 and 86 respectively and a 79yearold woman with long white hair a fab figure and a great face whose wrin kles she cheerfully displays she looked as though the last thing on her mind was investments she didnt look young but she did look cool it may be hard to be hip over 30 but be patient life begins at 80 wed love to go behind the scenes of a play to photograph the largely unsung crew responsible for backstage work and scenery design and what about the woman whos vol unteered hundreds of hours over the years arranging fundraising concerts to benefit her organization im sure theres an awardwinning flo ral arranger out there whod like to take us through the steps of choosing just the right bloom for a centrepiece surely theres a church choir so angel ic of voice that its been called on to tour and jewelry makers dont be shy show off your creations the list of arts and entertainment mediums is endless weve got the space so lets use it now thats enter tainment dog walker responds letters to the editor dear editor i am one of the dog walkers in and about the orchard park school area and ms brown may have seen me or one of my many dogwalking friends on that fine tuesday morning i must say that i and my fellow dogwalkers in this area are a very fastidious bunch we do make every effort to clean up any dog dirt that our canine com panions may leave behind i might add that bacterialaden damp dish rags by the kitchen sink pose a far greater health risk to a child than that dog on the front lawn sharon hall stouffville stouffville tribune patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief alan shackleton editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager v 1 thetribistarca 6244 main st l4a1e2 the slmiflvuia tribune nub- nay tbday od satwuv of- tho mhround prtatlac publlthliie nuf afewsppjra jadntfckl aja pickering ncwr advertiser ahiktnn hriddcourler barrio aitvrwo jlniiiijitod ouiuuitn burliuenl port ciprut cohtnxvxdwmc beach cou- nociluit emit york mirror etobl- l r j r i i i- letters policy the tribune welcomes your letters to the editor please keep letters to no more than 300 words note that letters may be edited for space libel spelling grammar while we endeavor to print as many letters as possible we regret that not all letters may be printed