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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1980-01-16, Page 2tt 0'in R:00.)11110.140.K el ind th e $.00110*... ''b'y Keith Roiilotori. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY' 16, 1980 GUYANA) Serving Brussels and the surrounding community; • Published each WednesdaY afternoon at. Brussels, Ontario By McLean Bros. Publishers Limited Evelyn Kennedy= Editer Pat Langlois -.Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $10.00 a'Year. Others $20.00 a Year, Single Copies 25 cents each. BLUE RIBBON AVJARD 1979 eau's reams ey trie The Brussels playschool has come to an end. The playschdol got off to a.good start early in October, and its aims were high to provide a pre-school education for _youngsters and:, at' the -same time provide mothers with a couple.,of hours free time. In November, the continued existence of the school started to look doubtful as attendance dropped and the schoo( ran into government bureaucracy problems The governmentrequired that at least ,cine of the teachers have a primary teaching certificate. When -a public • meeting with the;parents indicated that the playschool would have the support it needed both in increased attendance and in. its problems 'with government• red tape, things started looking hopeful again. FolioWing that meeting, attendance increased, but soon dropped off espedially' when support .was indiCated. Perhaps a' full • daytiMe babysitting service' was what the people in Brussels wanted, but that was a secondary aim, of •the playschool. . Their first aim was-to provide the• children with 'a learning atmosphere and. to teach them a spirit of co-operation with others before fhey reach the kindergarten stage.. Perhaps parents were looking for a different idea in a playschool, Whatever, the reason for the lack of support, Rev. Dan Sargent and the three playschool leaders, Colleen Rice, Lynne Rowe and Jane McDonald obviously put ;their best efforts forward" in an attempt to provide a service for the Brussels community and for that they should .be given credit and a vote of thanks. ra I See by. an article in: the: ,paper that Montreal's Mayor Jean brapeau is dreaming his dreams again. This time the Mayor haS in mind a , gigantic movie studio that would make Montreal a northern movie capital, Accustomed as we are to the dreams of M. Drapeau many Canadians will scoff. .He was, the man, after all, who said that the Olypmics could no more have a deficit than a man could have a baby and thereby became in the • works of -every political. cartoonist, a medical wonder about to give • birth. ' ' •• , •The majority of people see Drapeau in ' one of three lights, depending on how cynical they are. He is either a hopeless • dreamer, a totally, inCeMpetent empire. builder or a scoundrel: And' yet for :as long:, as most people can remember this funny little man has•been mayor of Montreal, one of the most interesting cities in Canada. •••• The• people teep returning him against all advice.. from the press :and his political" Drapeau has been responsible' for some of the most exciting events in Canadian recent history. Remember Expo '67 • the event that proved the focal point for the Centennial• Celebrations% more, than a decade ago? The Centennial in general and Expo in particular gave Canadians a feeling of nationhood and excitement arid , 'optimism that had never been in the. country country before and sadly, died soon afterward. Even with its controversy, the Montreal Olympics in 1976 recaptured some of that pride and excitment, a feeling that Canada could stand right up there with the rest of the world. •• • And just last summer, even. Canadians seldom interested in baseball -.were daptuted by. the excitement of the pennant race as the MOntreal Expos challenged for top spot. The Expos came to Canada; largely through the efforts of M. Drapeau. With the excitement, he's broughtto the whole country just think of the pride and excittnent he's brought to his home ci Montreal is no longer the huh of activity fOr - Canada 'that it once was. Economic and political force's have changed to the point that the financial centre of. the .;country is, ' now 'moving westerward, even past arch- rival 'to the oil-riCh West Montreal, is being by-passed by progress. But without a 'dreamer like M. Drapeau' hoW. much more forgotten. might Monteral be? His schemes continue to make Montreal Place; where it's happening:.. Other cities ••'• May be getting the new office buildings or factories 'but Drappau's City still exudes, a feeling rest 'of us. that it's an exciting ' place. There are iriany'Who claiin that it's. still the greatest city" in Canada becauSe it has a feeling of More than prosperity:but 'of joie de vivre: • ' , Each of our towns and I think could iise'a Jean Drapeatt:He 'doesn't' have to 'be ' the mayor of our community; hi•Certainly doesn't have to quite' so oblivious to the '• bills he runs up, but he doeineed to be dreamer. • We need people who .see towns and villages as more tlian pliCei to 'build stores and Offices. Citiei; towns 'and . yillages are •population 'Centers that must provide 'other services' thin places •to shop and work. They must be places to live:and that living refers to more than places' to -Sleep and eat. What too' many of our communities Inc* is a feeling of ;excitement. They exist from day to day in a monotony of going to work and coming horrie. In such boredom people seek excitment in other ways through drugs .or alcohol or some other kind of thrill. But dreamers like Drapea.0 *can put interest into the very life of a community. We need leaders ' of government and' • busineas who can haire the foresight •to*put • that kind of excitement into each 'of - Our, communities1.• It may be the leadership that turns an ordinary commercial coniplex into something exciting by the applicatibli of imagination. It may be the excitement of providing more services for people of the community, whether through recreation or cultural activities. It may be in many other ways that a person can use 'their own particular skills to enliven a community. • But no matter how it is done, we need more dreamers. • enemies. not close enough to the realities of the political situation 'in• Montreal to pass judgements • on - Mayor Drapeau's ' • 'Character. There. are thoSe who claim his -- grand schemes are the:circus to detract the .• - attention' of the citizens of Montreal' from the hardships of their, life in the city. Certainly the knowledge that Montreal ' discharges. raw seVirage into 'the St. Lawrence River makes me wish he could find the same challenge in building a sewerage system as he does in a stadium or movie studio. • . ' Yet I have a certain admiration for the agaip;and one day, there were ,only two children there for the three ' littl6 man with the big dreams' PerhaPs it's playschool leaders , to look after. ,nr- because_ we have such a shortage of dreamers in this country these days. ;It's unfortunate that such a good idea had to come to an end-, For all the criticism of the man Mayor Sugar and spice By Bill Smiley The, legacy they left 'like you I am proud as hell of them. If that ain't happiness, forget it." That's a happy guy, the old TVRM. The other letter is full of cliches, bombast, and another word beginning with B: "Sacrifices; terrible price; , home and country; fallen'comrades." Etc. (Continued, on 'Page 3) Well, our children are gone, and our children's children. I can scare forbear to tell you what a legacy they left us. A flat wallet. A bowl of sunflower seeds. A guitar with a hole in the body. A telephone that defies the efforts of the repair men. A toilet that overflow's. And so on. But all you need is love. As they say. Well, as I sithere remembering the Hades that is a Canadian .bus terminal at holiday time, I am forced to wonder. Were all those crapulous old gentlemen and indignant elderly ladies who kept screaming, "What about me?" full of love? Or perhaps those boisterous teenagers who kept trampling the crapulous old men and the indignant elderly ladies? Since I don't *yen rintilliiIPM1110 waypne under the' age of 411----at least six months, I'll leave 'er lay. I won't even mention that my daughter got her suitcase on the wrong bus, and my son got himself on the bus my daughter was not on, with all the rest of her luggage. C'est le bus business. No. I'm sick of the young. I want to deal, in this column, with a couple of oldsters. One of them takes a very dim view of me, and the other takes a gleeful, healthy look at life. For years I've been receiving. Christmas cards from someone who signs himself Your TV Repair, t drove 'me a little, nuts., The messages werealWays lively and salty and blunt. This year, the TV Repair Man came out of , the closet. But not completely: He still wouldn't sign his name. In the same mail, I received a copy of a long letter written to the editor of the Gazette-Reporter, Rivers, Man. Both letters dealt with a particular column I'd written. Comparing them might give the gentle reader a cross-section of the philosophy of Canadians. I'll print parts of them, sticking my' own oar in whenever I dang well feel' like it. Here's the TV Repair Man: "Hello Smiley — Merry Christmas. It's that time so here we go again. You really shocked me with this year's Armistice Day column. I. have always looked forward to, and .backward to, that column. To me, Armistice pay is the most important holiday except Christmas. "I lost a lot of close friends in both world wars.• You said you thought you had said it all and then wound up with the best one of all. You have never said it all nor eVer.will. "I have enjoyed your column for many years (thanks TVRM) so maybe you'd like to wade through this. I won't take long and you can scrape you shoes when you're through. "First, I am an old man — 78 last month. (Hell, that's just a boy, TVRM). Second, I am no more TV repair man than you are auto mechanic. Third I am the richest ; man • in the world, if you count friends. (Yes, man; I count friends.) I live alone ,in a shanty I built myself and have everything I need or want and enough pension that I'can help people now and then that need it, "Like yourself, I have grandchildren that are my pride and joy and opened up a whOle new life for hie. I taught them to swim, fish, skate, garden, you name it, and Cutting #rees The editor .Of The Glengarry News is worried about the nuMber of trees being cut :in his neighborhood. He shares the views of many townspeople in Ontario. He writes: "We received a phone call from a very, concerned citizen last week. He was lamenting the demise of some very old, but very healthy trees in his neighboihood. It seems" they. fell victim to the wood-heating 'craze. • "His point is well taken, We have noticed that wood cutting is on the increase. As more people join the Wood-heating set there is a greater demand for the resource. As demand goes up, So does the price, Entrepreneurs are now buying bush lots for the express purpose of cutting the trees. If this is-done in an organized fashion and a bush is thinned rather than levelled, littie harm is done'. "On the other hand; it takes Many years for a tree to grOw. It it surprising' just 'how mUch the character' of a neighborhood can be altered When even a few Majestic trees 'are' felted: — "Some municipalities are in the process of putting' controls on top Soil reMoVal. Will we have to put Similar controls on tree Cutting to' protect Our environment? Should a person by free to cut Whatever he wants? "These are sensitive questions. Some day, very soon, we May haVe to answer then"