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Km Out Wed December THE ERA Serving York County Since HASKELL TERRY CARTES New Years Resolutions here the traditional time for J ising the past and planning goals for the Politicians particularly must set their goals now budgets are coming up soon and since the start of regionrl government has brought a whole new set of rules to the political game in York we thought we would offer our own suggestions for any who might be having trouble with their New Years resolutions IN NEWMARKET everybody agrees a new town hall will have to be built this year Let us resolve to find the money first then build the town hall IN AURORA councillors will have to government and to g KING TOWNSHIP where much mumbling by millionaire farmers was heard last year about the condition of the roads councillors should resolve to look for their own gravel pit so some attempt can be made to fill those bottomless potholes this spring WHITCHURCH TOWNSHIP where much grumbling has been heard this past year about gravel pits should resolve to trade some of its gravel pits to King in return for some millionaire farmers For EAST GWILUMBURY political leaders we suggest a resolution to seek a large boarding school so there will be enough hockey players around to fill the new arena GEORGINA TOWNSHIP the new political entity in the north end of York Region has plans to become a tourist for city folk from the south We suggest Georgina councillors resolve to work harder to get Highway constructed so the city folk can get up there If that seems like too big a resolution for a single year theyd have to tackle both Metro Toronto and Ontario governments then how about we resolve to acquire more Lake beaches and turn them into public parks REGIONAL COUNCILLORS we feel could well look for an instant hospital maybe a job or a model styled after Expos Habitat that can be dropped into place by helicopters and cranes They might also see what can be accomplished In the line of a new international airport perhaps in Township to offset all that assessment in the south they will lose this year to Metro He wants to find his tooth so he can put it under his pillow YORK COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD which is dreaming of establishing specialized schools a3 a school for artists over the Region we suggest try a resolution to look for a magic to replace school buses and solve the transportation problem this will inevitably create salt on the streets snow is removed reminds me the fellow that always the sense putting By the end of win ter we would be wading through and driving over of taxes will be due in installments and that your first bill will The truck that was spreading the salt could just as easily have had a snowplow on the front of it shoving the snow to the side of the road After alt a had to come along later to remove the slushy mushy mess 1 can understand spreading salt on to give cars better traction but certainly not on snow and makes a me thing Bring back the good old days of spreading ing snowy streets Dear Editor Another person has been killed on a snow mob- protect their greens by wiring them In they should at least hang uld warn the of the greens by ringing them with rope that will break on contact Instead of decapitating the driver After all most dont delibe rately drive over golf greens and decapitating the Bill Smiley sugar and spice Editors note It seems Bill Smiley ale too much Christmas turkey and was unable to write a column for The Era this week In his pbee is Peter Ward who nor mally writes about international affairs This week Peter writes about the Ward familys Christmas while Mr Smiley digests his tur key Bill will be back next week As you rest up from the after math of Christmas and gird your loins for the perils of New Years Eve let me report the results of two important Christmas experi ments in the Ward family In years past the Tribe has piled into the family heap as the joyful day loomed closer on the calendar and headed for a local Christmas tree farm Some years there just wasnt time for this annual chore but most years we managed to make it Scoff Young- You can tell that Christmas is over when Dad comes downstairs in his bare feet and sorts through the socks under the tree to find a pair sober enough to wear to work The skates that were brand new under the tree on Christmas morning need sharpening As in Gee Dad I cant even turn a corner with out falling down and it keeps on costing me goals honest The little girl comes down bearing her most recent masterpiece in the painting by numbers game and shyly says The head would look better if the color hadnt run into the neck It was fun Wed descend on the emporium with whoops of delight from the young er members the family and usually after a dozen or so trees had been named The Only One For Us This Year wed find one that was really right As I recall after the first year the head of the family pass ed a rule that once a tree had been blooded with the axe there was no changing your mind The only year I remember that rule being broken was the sea son when we wound up bringing home two trees The family could not make up its mind which was best so mounted one in the liv ing room and one outside Anyway this year the lady of the bouse had been reading and things were different I came home one night in November to find Jane surround ed by conservation and does it she said leav ing me to guess at the specifics of that final straw Were going to have an artificial tree this year There were a few complaints from the kids but mother convinc ed them with tales of the disap pearing forests of Canada and the nasty smoke that filled the whei uary We ordered a seven footer from the catalogue a n it came three days later in a cardboard box The branches were all colorcoded and you stuck them into the green wooden shaft smallest at the lop longest at the There was almost as much family discussion over the construc- tree as there usually is the far Anyway the tree sufficed The heat of the lights didnt shri vel the plastic pine needles there was no sticky gum all over my hands ami best of all there wont be a trail of needles hard and dried to a lethal point when dis mantling time comes next week As if it wasnt traumatic enough to break the real Christ mas tree tradition we also talked the kids out of their Christmas turkey On that one there was a ily vote and the decision was animous We had a standing roast of prime jibs of beef We were smug when we announced the momentous deci sion to the neighborhood butcher no turkey beef for us this Christmas hut I must say he took the wind out of our sails Guess its the thing to do this year he said offhandedly The butcher reported that his Christmas sales of poultry were down from nearly three tons hist year to only slightly more than a ton this year and most of the folks were switching to beef Crier BILL GAMBLE Bert Kent year Here we come Bert Kent is dead To a number of people this short blunt statement will be ab sorbed with- a noncommittal sil ence To many it will be the sudden revelation of an inexplicable loss But to none will it be mean ingless For this man to whom a sense of civic duty fitted like a skin- graft has through his color fulness controversy irascibility and out spoken manner made his own name synonymous with politics in the town of Newmarket Ami this is a recognition that will live for a very long time Five years mayor of New market two years councillor sev eral more years member of the Hydro Commission and one year as Bylaws Officer represent Bert Kents dedication to this Therc isnt enough turkey left for a sand- Mother goes back to her old housecoat Dad hunts around after dinner and looks in several empty cigar boxes and then says I guess Ill have to go back buying my own The last bunch of Christmas cards come in from people who cut you off their list but then got one from you The lady who left her fur coat on Day comes back to get it and returns the other fur coat she took by mistake And Mother says to Dad If I had a fur coat I think I could keep track of it And Dad says I think 1 will go and clean the basement The ninn on the street who always gets his Christmas tree down first appears on hi steps and throws his naked Christmas tree time of UK Big Christmas is a particularly trying time financially for me For you see Num ber One Sm has a birthday the he scored on i Day wot he spent stall I collector avoiding MB coi ti and running and he a time when we a few years ago but now that hes ll it is difficult for him to differentiate be tween a birthday present and Christmas present It is also difficult tor dad and mom to differentiate This years birth day present was a pair of blues to the Leafs game at Maple Leaf Gardens I chose this present first be cause it was different and second because the tickets were FRFK Number One Kan received a birthday from his beloved lral as they Ihlladrlphla got some Number One Son and friend of equal age and of equal hockey team wor ship enjoyed themselves while I and friends daddy nearby watering this oasis alternately star ing at the Leafs performing their derringdo on the Rig Eye and at the froth on our mugs of us would mumble to the other about how happy Inevitably the sub ject of money and bills to- bepaid came up and both of us asked other how we planned to pay these Earn question brought much shoulder shrugging and more foam staring Thoughts on moon- and lighting crossed our minds but what service station op erator would hire a news paperman to pump Were both loo old to agreed that the next few months would be spent in nimbly bopping from one foot to the other to avoid Now hope that people dont get the Men that think Christmas Is humbug The Joy that my one booh on how to pay for Christmas Or ways to avoid paying hills for two months Me would have a best seller and It would be a must gift for every daddy the lawn Mother flops in a chair and sticks her legs out in front of her and announces Only shopping days until next Christmas You call tell Year- is almost here when Dud says to mother Do you think should practice the chacha for a little while tonight in case they play it on New Years Mother says to Dad I simply cant wear that dress again All the children except babies who cant talk yet ask three times a day If they can stay up and watch New Years Eve on television Mother says to herself I think I could drop that hemline a few inches this year and maybe change the neckline Dad says I used to give up smoking every New Years hut this year instead Im going to give up getting no sleep The hockey stick that was brandnew at Christmas has a big chip out of the blade Mother says Id rather we took our own car instead with George especially wltrii Hi- lirktH tin you can drink at midnight You know George Dad says This must have shrunk The newspapers are so full of yearend reviews that one would almost think the old year was worth remembering If it is worth remember ing is for reasons that can be given in yearend reviews The bills from Christmas begin to arrive The little girl is looking in the refrigera tor and finds Mothers corsage Her eyes are shin ing as she whispers Isnt It beautiful Mother tries on the dress she has been re- model ling and Dad says You look beautiful and Mother nays Youre just saying that because you know I dont feel right wearing this old thing again Anil Dad says you tiro bountiful the children 1 did not know Kent the fam ily man or Kent the military man although it is well known that he was an active member of the armed forces during World War Indeed I was never what one might term a good friend of Berts But I found him to be an amiable acquaintance and a cooperative political figure during my years as a newspaper- Alt hough had covered many meetings of council over which he presided first real introduction to Mayor Kent in 1061 when I became editor of The Post I re call it was after a regular council meeting and we had all gone to the Restaurant for a coffee I called Bert to my table and ask ed him for a quote on a current issue He threw me a cynical stare then said Whats the point Your and the local press during his ten ure as mayor the first hint of his fierv attitude toward civic Bylaws jarking tickets were being fixed By this allegation he forced Chief Constable Byron chief of Newmar kets nineman police force to re verse a decision previously approv ed council The following year Bert Kent the Bylaws Officer be came the mayor of Newmarket Then came some of the many controversial issues for which May or Kent was criticized but never justifiably condemned the Hi- resignutic ten to Attorney General Fred Cobs requesting information about the possibility of a three man police commission for Newmarket some how managed to get reported in the Globe Mail Telegram and Toronto Star and many many made more t a few enemies some friends lot of admirers during his political out of tht dresa and both of them laugh quite why let picture appear in their paper The wrong I reminded him that 1 was the editor and that I would decide whether his name or picture appear ed in paper not bosses Then I said to him But it cuts both ways Bert Do something worthwhile and Ill eulogize you do something rotten Ill crucify quote which I had asked for And to top It all off I went and misquoted him and had to write a formal in my next Issue Although Bert Kent stirred to wakefulness not only of councillors but the would have been iinexoect- Bert Kent was bound to come back forced to return by two basic human appetites First the need to be involved the hunger to be heard when things had to be said Second the profound desire to be integral part of what he loved most the town of Newmarket Two of the men upon whom Bert Kent heaped much of his ire in the past had this to any of him He was the type of person who If he believed in a thing would fight for it all the way He didnt back down from anyone Mayor Tom Although we frequent ly disagreed you always knew where you stood with him He was outspoken and he fought for what ho thought was right ExReeve Sid Bert Kent to my mind was so honestly simple that to many men he seemed to be a mass of complexities Come to think of it I never did eulogize him but then neither did crucify him I admired him because be lieve that the right of outspoken dissent is the free mans most pre cious heritage And such men do not often puss this way