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p4rbibun0ct0ber 131995 st commeiit generosity hampered by coming hard times this community has extended itself once again donations to the food bank are up once again this thanksgiving it seems when the resi dents who must rely on such services as the food bank begin to feel the pinch the community instinctively responds many local groups have contributed to keep the food bank shelves stocked and as a result of many generous donations there were smiles around the thanks giving tables where there would normally be none however thegeherosity demonstrated by the com munity will be dampened by what is expected to be i increased heedin the near future there are many people in our town that will be hit hard by the cuts handed down in the social service sector putting meals on the table will be increasingly difficult and we have already seen food bank usage rise once again this is most unfortu- off we hope the towns gen- nate since for several erosity will be extended in months usage has fallen the coming months stouffville tribune 6244 main st stoufiville onu l4a1e2 905 6402100 905 6492292 classified 905 6402874 fax 905 6405477 publisher patricia pappas general managereditor andrew mair editorinchief jo ann stevenson director of advertising debra weller fe retail manager mike rogerson distribution manager barry j goodyear administration vfvian bneil operations mgr pamela nichols questions news andrew mair editor joan ransberry julie caspersery roger ijelgrave reporters sjoerd witteveen steve- somervilie photographry retail advertising joan marshman catherine dunkejd classified bonnie rondeau real estate joan marshman distribution arlene maddock the stouftvilte tribune published every wednesday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distribu tion group of community newspapers which includes aja pickering news advertiser auro ranewmarket era banner barrio advance brampton guardian burlington post citypar- enl collingwood connection etobieoke guardian georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week markham economist and sun milton canadian champion mississaitga news north york mir ror oakville beaver orillia today oshawn- whitbyciarington this week northumberland news peterborough this week richmond hillthornhillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror todays seniors uxbridge tribune con tents cannot be reprinted without written per mission from the publisher would you blow whistle on welfare cheaters would you blow the whistle on a welfare cheater i would if i knew that someone was pulling a fast one id turn tattle tale go straight to the welfare cops and squeal v- 1 wouldnt give a tinkers damn if the cheater had toddlers and was eight months pregnant to boot in my books fraud is just another word for stealinga thief by any other name is still a thief for every dollar that lands in the hand of a cheater its a dollar that doesnt land in the hand of a person who truly needs it not to be forgotten its a dollar that came out of my pocket r suggest we take a firm but fair approach first lefs not lose sight of the fact that weve just gone through the worse economic times since the dirty 30s when the recession cut through peoples lives it left a path of destruction through no fault of their own some very fine people ended up on welfare t victims of the recession were and still are good parents they were and still are good neighbors they were and still are good peo ple we might well be living in interesting times one thing is certain this is not a good time to be poor fm included to think its open season on the poor fm a lit tle sensitive tve got a good mem ory at one time in my life i was poor it was not the best of times yes poverty builds character it builds a depressed character sorry folks fm not impressed with ontario premier mike har ris and his notsomerry band this chestpounding axe wield ing government shots first and asks questions later this govern ment is shrinking the provinces safety net too fast too hard and too often if you think we paid a hefty price for the blunders and the out and out stupidity of the liberals and the new democrats hold onto your hat the cost of the pre sent government will eventually go through the roof all is not lost however a few good things are rinding their way out fof queens park the welfare fraud hotline is one most of ontario myself includ- fed is impressed last week i went to the streets arid asked 25 stoufiville resi dents what they thought of the welfare hotline if vyoure a welfare cheat in sfouffville youd better be good at it stoufiville isnt stupid nor iwiil this town turn the other cheek of the 25 questioned 21 said theyd call 1800394stop and report welfare fraud when the annual cost of wel fare in ontario hits a whopping 63 billion we simply cant afford to lose one dime to theft stouffville knows this provincewide the snitch line is expected to save ontario 25 million in the next 12 months hotlines have worked in other places manitobas taxpayers saved over 2 million dollars a stoufiville resident summed it up best he said id report if i knew beyond a doubt that they were cheating if i found out someone was getting welfare at one end of town and then again at the other end of town id report it we have to pay for this fraud it takes money away from the people who really need it as well as supporting the wel fare snitch line im all for intro ducing work-for- welfare pro grams im from the old school i do believe that the fastest way to destroy people is to throw money at them the same school taught me this the way to get on your feet is to get off your butt cleaning up the world is going to be tough in a noble effort to bring betty crocker up to politically correct scratch at the end of the millen nium some goofball neglected the potentially hurt feelings of a whopping 49 per cent of the pop ulation our new improved betty may be a composite of every race creed and color but alas she will represent only one of our two official genders her name alone exudes bla tant sexism think for a minute how many guys do you hangout with whose given name is betty now that i mention it i do recall an irascible excolleague whose last name was betts and who was known by acquain- tances and enemies alike as betty nicknames however dont count especially this one which was a deliberate attempt to undermine the victims self- esteem conversely it could be argued that leaving guys out of the mix a form of inverse sexism is jus- tillable after centuries of pater nalistic propaganda which has unfairly subjugated women but do we want to exchange all- that for an unyieldingly maternalistic society making us look as bad as them fand if we do do we want to be quite that obvious about it lets consider an alternative chris crocker for instance has the nice ring of alliteration and can comfortably encompass per sons of either gender and all officially sanctioned sexual ori entations even so chris could pose problems for new immigrants some of whom may come from countries where the name is all but unknown as i ponder this latent chal lenge to scrupulous fairness i look to a handy womens maga zine i didnt buy it honestly i rates corner just borrowed it for further inspiration and whats the first thing i come across a double- page spread for cover girl cos metics three grave injustices leap out instantly from the ad the insulting use of the word girl instead of svoman a blatantly sexist bias in favor of female readers the unwritten implica- tion that women should aspire to become models rather than say rocket scientists brain sur geons or construction workers as we tackle our conscious and unconscious prejudices by open ing up a whole new box of cake mix it occurs to me that this is just the tip of the frosting meanwhile another internation al icon aunt jemima is also up for the chop but few would argue against the premise that auntie is even further beyond the pale than our betty i there are many other exam ples of filthy capitalist products which show flagrant disregard for 90s sensibilities among them monarch flour elitist maple leaf foods jingoistic and cool whip pornographic cleaning up the world is going to be tougher than we thought not only must we work on our own view of injustice we also have to consider the perceived injustices of others f i didnt used to believe in rein carnation but theres no time like the present to rethink my own narrowminded prejudices about other perfectly valid belief systems pass me a beer and a hook and i promise to work diligently for equality in my next life