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p4 weekender saturdayjanuary 17 1998 st saturday january 17 1998 vol 14 no 3 r- the tribune is a member of the ontario press council i- thetribune comment imons send your letters to the editor to the address belovv editorial buyer beware we love to laugh this is evident from the results of a survey conducted by the major cable companies which indicated the new comedy network and teletoon were the top picks of the new channels made available to television viewers late last fall to generate interest the channels were offered free of charge for a time as you read this the new channels are being switched off for anyone who hasnt bought into the cable package now it is the cable companies turn to laugh many people will wind up paying very large cable bills in this province for services they neither want nor use certainly some of the channels will be watched but most of the specialty stations are skipped over with the 500 channel universe looming on the horizon and direct- tohome satellite technology advancing at a winged pace you would suspect that the cable companies would stop the old tactic of selling many channel packages to justify huge rates if we in the newspaper business told our readers that in order to read this paper they had to subscribe to 10 others we wouldnt be in business for too long it seems odd that the communications regulators allow cable com panies to hijack our televisions in this manner in bc a challenge to this authority was recently successful and companies there now offer a cable package you select yourself only the channels wanted are paid for the simple principle of supply and demand at work as consumers we must take action dont pay for something you dont want change can only come about if consumers cease to accept what is being offered as simply not good enough we would never accept any product that did not provide the service we demand of it but when itcomes to the hypnotic spell of the squawk box we are completely under its power and thats not funny saving mccrae medals a patriotic lesson the birth of a world famous poem is an exceedingly rare event not many of us get to be in on such a thing but cyril lc allinson did he was there ort may 3 1917 when one of the best known poems in the english language was written i saw him the poet sitting on the ambulance step a pad on his knee allinson later wrote he looked up as i approached but continued to write he wrote on for five minutes more then as i hand ed him his mail he handed me his pad the poem was almost an exact description of the scene in front of us both the the was lieutenant- colonel john mccrae of guelph ontario the poem the most farhous war id argue antiwar poem in the world was in flanders fields if mccrae had been british hed have been knighted for that poem had he been amer ican hed have been trans formed into a demigod the subject of books and holly wood movies alas he was canadian and because of it all but forgotten there is a tiny museum in his old homestead in guelph occasionally his name sur faces in a 30second sound bite during remembrance day celebrations but thats about it and last year the memory of john mccrae suffered the ulti mate indignity his war basic black christmas gifts restored faith in humanity letters dear editor to the friends that anonymously delivered the boxes of wonderful christmas treats and beautiful and much needed and appreciated christ mas presents for the children and 1 to my home on christmas eve this is the only way j know to say thank you last year 1997 was a tough year for our family your generosity has renewed my faith in humanity a great deal of time and thought obviously went into purchasing the gifts it made christmas for us name withheld arthur black medals were put up for pubic auction for sale to the highest bidder did the federal government rush in to stop the travesty and save the medals nope nary a peep from the feds did the public cry out foul afraid not in the end the medals were saved by the intervention of a single canadian citizen by a man who hadnt even been born when mccrae wrote his poem by a man who wasnt even born in canada arthur lee was born in can ton china in 1955 his family came to canada when he was 10 years old and settled in sudbury ont lee worked- in the inco mines to get enough money to go to university after graduation he went into the manufacturing business and prospered and somewhere in that process arthur lee became a canadian with an intensity that few of us will ever be able to claim canadian enough to enter the public bidding against profes sional foreign collectors bent on buying the mccrae medals and spiriting them out of the country canadian enough to lay out 400000 of his own money buying the medals did he do it for the glory no arthur lee is a shy cana dian its been a little bit too much he said my wife and i were really not into this public life and she is getting really rather upset did he do it for profit hardly arthur lee immedi ately donated the mccrae mementos back to canada no charge it was more or less despera tion to make sure the medals stayed in canada rather than taking a chance at their being lost explained lee i just felt i was doing my duty as a canadian nothing more than that really a lot more than that actual ly arthur lees gesture calls to mind perhaps the most famous line of john mccrae s immor tal poem im referring to the line that goes to you from failing hands we throw the torch be yours to hold it high we canadians have fumbled the torch a couple of times in the past few years once or- twice its almost gone out we can thank our lucky stars there are still canadians like arthur lee around to show the rest of us how a torch ought to be held stouffville tribune weekender a metroland community newspaper 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 oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us 905 6402100 retail sal 905 6402100 class i 905 6402874 distribution 905 6402100 s fax 905 6405477 email thetribist 6244 main st stouffvi tat i s r igssctpslduflvlue tribune- pub- iiehed every tuesday thursday arid saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing i and distribution group of cbramu- i nlty newspapers which ihcludestj ajaxpickering news advertiser i aliirton jheraldcotoier barrier advance brampton guardian burlington port citypareotl collingwoodwasaga beach con- i nection east york mirror btohl- coke guardian georgetown iade- pendentacton x free press j i kingston this week juodsay this t i week markhiro economist sun j midlandpenetanguishene mirror i mutobcanadiart champion mis- sissauga news newmarketaurora erabanner northumberland vnew north york mirror oakvillc i beaver orillla today oshawa- s wbttbyclarlnglonport perry tms week peterborough this week richmond hultbomhluvaugls liber rough mirror audi uxbridgr tribune todays senior i contents cannot be reprinted wul i out written permission from the i publisher permit 1 1247 the pubs i liaber reserves the right to refuse or classify tan advertisement creditfor dyertisemsnt limited tn sppee the rrvr cuupled ml jj j- j j jjt j jitajjr 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 let ters may be printed wjjfti v tjjji j j v- j