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p4thetribdne thursday january b i 998 the tribune thursday january 8 1998 vol 110 no 2 the tribune is a member of the ontario press council comment tnions st send your letters to the editor to the address below editor at feds can do anything credibility doesnt seem to be a great concern of the federal lib eral spindoctors it is a party with a second majority if slim mandate working around a somewhat detached populace that could get away with reneging on a promise to take back the hated goods and services tax and then just a few years after making an election issue out of the tories buying helicopters from an overseas consortium can celling the deal at a cost of 500 million only to turn around and buy 793 million worth of choppers from the very same compa ny what gall art eggleton liberal defence minister stood bravely in front of the deal this week stating that the eh- 101s were the best and most efficient helicopter available to protect canadas borders the cost is justified eggleton vehemently stated because the liberals are saving 416 million on the deal the tories had put together he then pulled out the big guns saying the liberals are no longer faced with the crushing 40 billion deficit the tories held at the time of the original deal the deal is not complete the navy still needs expensive ship- based helicopters which the liberals have promised to purchase in the future it is estimated that when all is said and done the helicopter deal will be virtually the same as the one cancelled by the liberals on taking office but there will be that extra 500 million penalty they paid at the time this deal smacks of the same arrogance and audacity shown by the liberals over a host of other political flubs like the mulroney airbus scandal the krever and somalia inquiries the gst the roughhoused protester affair and others its plainly obvious the liberals can get away with just about anything new board might be friendlier to teachers teachers stood scowling against the boardroom walls and public school trustee patri cia hunter started reading from a book of ideology called if it aint broke break it it was a night one year ago the teachers had been outside in the cold chanting for a strike and cheering union leaders who said the board robbed them of preparation time and now hunter was opening the board meeting with a mani festo of the marketplace the 40hour week will become a dinosaur she read everyone will work more hunter from richmond hill said she hadnt meant for her invocation to antagonize the teachers but a message had been sent thats what the york region board of education was like it felt it had a job to do and hoped teachers understood if they did nt taxpayers interests came first unabashed conservatives had been elected the board proud they started cutting costs and reshaping services before pre mier mike harris lowered their provincial support because they acted sensibly the boards leaders say the worst is over i believe we have been inno vators in innovation was how a reporters view mike adler vicechair karen barker put it last week but the boards attempt to save money by changing school staffing on its own poisoned its relations with teachers a situ ation which a provincial observ er compared to two armies ready to fight they did fight but not bloodi ly elementary teachers came within hours of striking in turn off bright lights says reader dear editor i have just spent the holidays in both ottawa and montreal where i intentionally drove at night my suspicions were confirmed it is only here that we are confronted with- a group of motorists who potentially could be as dangerous as drunk drivers as an exprofessional rally driver i appreciate the function of high- powered lights i also know how and when to turn them off too are they necessary on our busy roads or residential streets i think not the low beams provided with every modern motor vehicle are more than adequate for our well lit streets why then must five per cent of our fellow motorists insist on illegally firing up four lights as soon as the sun sets and in many cases even run- lettebs ning them during the day what is causing this pavement plague its the manufacturers caught up in another me too com petitive squeezeadding a second set of lights to almost every vehicle they make its also a new breed of car customizers adding powerful after market lights to their highly modi fied roadracers and why when flashed at will they not dim these lights is it because they themselves are not bright enough to turn them off when flashed at maybe we are experiencing a macho expression of vehicular supe riority to leave them on at all costs ive got four and i dont give a damn if they bother you or not whatever the answers we must curb this dilemma before serious accidents occur clearly police forces dont seem to realize the gold mine available by fining these law breakers are we then to equip our families with ham mers and punch out every auxiliary driving light we can find or should we petition our politicians to extin guish the now superfluous over head street lights and insist on a tax rebate i say we should retaliate and hit these inconsiderate drivers with our high beams at every opportunity although never an advocate of fight ing fire with fire i see no other alternative in teaching these individ uals that candle power is not road power r marshall march and their high school colleagues staged a twoweek walkout in august the ontario teachers strike in october finally put picket lines around local schools where some of the anger teachers had built up was vented at the province the new board forming tonight officially known as york region district school board no 16 has 12 trustees seven less than bill 160 took away its taxation powers and the new financial conditions set by government are not yet known but markham trustee bill crothers almost certain to be chair said board programs are in no danger parents will dis cover that in september he pledged and crothers added its absolutely inevitable that junior kindergarten cut during the years of adjustments is going to be back the new board should focus on involving the community based on an idea of partner ship with the public said bark er to do this it must help school councils often confused about their present and future roles to find their feet the new board might be friendlier to teachers trustees challenging barker for the vicechairs post have spoken of the need for harrrm- ny knowing fresh contract negotiations start- soon heres hoping they threw out hunters book stouffville tribune fy v ji a mclroland community m patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief tracy kibble editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian qneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us 05 6402100 retail sales 9056402100 classifieds 905 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