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p 4 the tribune tuesday june 17 1997 st the tribune tuesday june 17 1997 vol 109 no 31 comment send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial politics tend to cool off in summer politics and hot weather dont mix with summer officially starting this week it is tradition that local politics take a back seat to fun in the sun however this year there are as many burning issues as there are burning bod ies on the beach and this year candidates will have to face the electorate in the fall td this end voters should be grilling not only on the barbecue but on the campaign trail as well heres what we should keep in mind with the municipal election looming in november if you have an issue of concern to you and your neighbors find out where each of the can didates who are seeking your vote stands on that issue stay abreast of who is running where and for what office we will notify you as each candidate registers their intent to run remember that the bulk of your tax money is used by the school boards and the region these candidates are often passed over andgiven cur sory consideration at the ballot stay informed over the summer because depressing as it sounds the fall is not far off 7 dony look- you migffi get charged wfth harassment harassment is your hand in my face i think lawnchairs best left on the ground the man of my life fell out of the sky when gerry bought the ultra light i wondered how could the old boy jug gle all his toys the snow mobile the dirt bike the gold wing motorcycle the computer the cottage and me were being asked to move over to make room for a 1984 mx 11a ultra light air craft thank goodness gerry doesnt have a job if he had to work for a living id never see him when people ask for a description of the ultra light i simply say its two flying lawn chairs gerry bought the little airplane hav ing never been up in one hes quick to point out however that he did sit in an ultra light once and while hes not positive he thinks he had a dream about an ultra light in 1961 actually this flying thing is all my fault when gerry retired last year my retirement gift was to join me on a 30minute heli copter ride out of buttonville airport i liked it he- loved it gerry couldnt afford a helicopter so he settled for the ultra light it must be noted there are laws off the record joan ransberry linked to flying lawn chairs before you fly transport canada stipulated that you must become a licensed pilot gerry went off to airplane school in centralia near london he did the transport canada classroom bit passed with ease and went on to bailey and cracker make good team i was shocked and appalled by an assertion in a recent broadcast week article concerning my favorite celluloid man in it writer john brady claimed that large cranky overweight middle aged men with shaky finances dont have crackers success in attracting women well maybe he should have checked with a few representatives of the opposite sex before pontificating about their guy preferences as a mem ber of the female gender for my entire life i have always found the lad a lot more appealing than your average hol lywood hunk cracker for those who dont follow the television series is a very large bloke indeed who espouses unhealthy habits drinking smoking and gam bling and the kind of politically incor rect attitudes which endear him to those of us who have had it up to here with that creeping 90s malaise fear of causing offence he is played with oversized magnif icence by robbie coltrane whose other career outings include the title role in the pope must diet and one of two lessthandevout ladies of the cloth in nuns on the run what cracker lacks in physical beauty he more than kates corner kate gilderdale compensates for in intelligence and sharp sometimes deliciously nasty wit as police psychologist fitz he does not tread lightly on other peoples sen sibilities he is opinionated unapolo- getic a feckless husband and an all round dreadful role model like dono van bailey he says what he thinks before thinking about what hes going to say and like bailey his antics are greet ed with all the horror evinced by a vic torian matron who finds herself in the presence of a naked piano leg having the vapors over displays of public petulance by modern day heroes seems to be gaining favor among many members of the media which may account for why i and other cranky middleaged practitioners of the written word find ourselves defending the indefensible of course there is a distinction between coltrane who is acting out a role and bailey whose job it is to run as fast as he can something he does better than anyone else in the world but nowhere is it written that the poor bloke must be held to account for his opin ions when asked what he thought he simply gave a colorful honest spur-of- themoment reply if hed wanted to be a diplomat he would no doubt have chosen a career in the diplomatic service but baileys problems are symptomatic of the insa tiable desire to find every well known individuals achilles heel in order to unleash gallons of ink and miles of videotape in righteous condemnation of perceived imperfections in character or attitude if we want our athletes to win at all costs we shouldnt be horrified when their competitive edge spills over into their rhetoric and while cracker is a fictional character his job puts him under immense pressure and throws him into close contact with some obnoxious often psychopathic crimi nals what bailey and cracker share is the fact that they are fallible human beings like the rest of us and like the rest of us they sometimes make mistakes become a student pilot up he went hour one hour two hour three and on it went as the flying time increased gerrys confidence grew while his sister wore out a pair of rosary beads i didnt worry quite the contrary i was marking time until i could go up besides im not catholic i like a thrill ive flown in small air craft many times once coming home from lions head i took over the con trols of the cessna for a few minutes i felt quite important also ive flown upside down with a stunt pilot ive had a few helicopter rides and soared in a hot air balloon my fun hasnt all been in the clouds ive raced a stock car am an old hand at gokarting ive shot rapids in a canoe been whitewater raft ing and taken a slow ride in a subma rine so i didnt fuss when gerry took up with an ultra light last week gerry climbed into the aircraft with flight instructor bruce by his side gerry took the controls the engine started the plane lifted the engine quit bruce took over the controls and gerry and bruce came down the plane was up about five apartment storeys when it lost power cause of the crash was mechanical fail ure it was not pilot error gerry walked away from the crash with minor injuries the instructor meanwhile was not as fortunate the 36yearold pilot was admitted to lon don health science centre in serious condition he faced nine hours of surgery his injuries included a broken back soon bruce will be transferred to a rehabilitation hospital where the long slow road to recovery will begin after the transport canada carried out its investigation the badly damaged aircraft was taken to a farm in london everyone is asking will gerry go up again the answer is i dont know i have however suggested that he take up needlepoint stouffville tribune a metrqland community newspaper news patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief julie caspersen 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 about us news 9056402100 retail sale 905 6402100 classifieds 905 6402874 hismfehtifill 9056402100 5 6405477 e- thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville out the stouffville tribune pub- 3 tithed every tuesday thursday i and saturday a oneef the j metroland printing publishing and 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