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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-05-11, Page 5sykes THE The city of Toronto has been hit by a rash of fires the past week that have residents fearing for their lives after several people died in arson -related fires. Extra -duty police patrols prowled Toronto's east end and .downtown this past weekend following the worst cases of arson in that city in years. Six people died in two attached Sherbourne St. rooming houses last Friday morning and three east -end apartment buildings were set on fire. • Police swarmed the areas of the fires and had been briefed to watch for any suspicious persons in the area. Patrols This Sunday, May 14, is Mother's Day. A day when gentlemen and children of all ages offer moms and wives special recognition for their untiring efforts in household duties, on the job and for the special things that only they can do. It is a day to offer thanks for the special people they are. Naturally gentlemen of a considerate breed are conscious of these efforts on a day to day basis and constantly offer praise in the direction of their better half. That's just the crazy kind of guys we are. And Mother's Day is just an ex- tention of the consideration and adoration that men shower upon women all year. Mother's Day is just that little extra thank you. Now there may be some males who are relatively new to the game, perhaps having acquired a missus in the last year, who don't know quite how to ex- press the feelings in their heart on this special day. For those, there are some proven methods that will truly show that mom, or your life partner, is still the girl of your heart and appreciated for her in- dividuality. Now if you and the little ones are set on preparing a breakfast in bed for mom, allow the youngsters to squeeze the orange juice from fresh oranges with their bare hands. Admittedly it will turn into a messy job, but the children get such a good feeling from making something for mother with their little hands. And mother would surely appreciate the gesture as long as the wee Pnes washed their stubby little fingers. It's always suc,h fun to surprise mom with a few strands of bacon, slightly crisp, her favorite juice and a rose for good measure on a breakfast tray, but GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, TFIURS.DAY, MAY 11, 1978—PAGE 5 avoid having the children sneak into the bedroom on a surprise attack mission. Such tactics might startle mom and send the contents, of the breakfast tray over the new risque nightgown that dad purchased for the occasion. Those of ,a more adventurous nature might want to capture mom's fancy by displaying a brightly colored tattoo in the shape of a heart with an arrow running through the middle. The in- scription inside the heart, in bold letters, would appropriately read: MOM. Such a tattoo could be displayed on any part of the anatomy but perhaps in a more visible area so as not to appear provocative. After all, it is for mom. If the children are intent on giving mom a gift that they not only made themselves but is distinctive and creative, have them do a full length crayon mural of mom in the bedroom. Any mom would be proud of such an original gift. in a fit of affection, tell the whole town about your feelings for mom by running an ad in the local newspaper that reads: My mom is better than anybody else's mom, anyday. Try to avoid doing everything around the house that mom or the life partner usually looks after with prompt at- tention. Cooking meals and dusting up around the place may make them feel insecure or unwanted. Just for good measure have the children leave their socks on the lampshade in the living room or toss their dirty clothes on the kitchen table. It at least serves as a reminder that mom's talents are needed. These hints are quite handy in winning affection but it would first help to remember that Sunday is Mother's Day. WEEK AFTER INFORMATION, BACKGROUND AND OPINION PROVINCIAL. POINTS were increased in the Beaches area and special attention was given to apartment buildings. Police were also told to watch crowds at fires, looking for a person who is ecstatic or excited and they will even take video tapes at future fires in hope of catching the arsonist. Toronto Fire Chief, Ben Bonser. has called in the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office to investigate the recent fires which' all started in stairwells. Bonser said he is fairly sure the three Queen Street fires were started by arson and possibly by the same person. But he would not make a •statement on the Sherbourne Street fire because com- bustible materials were found under the stairs. The fires have cityresidents upset, especially after six members of the McCann family perished in the fire at their York Mills home. Killed in the pre- dawn fire last Thursday were Barbara McCann, 44, who died while frantically trying to save her 11 children, five of whom perished with her. They were: Melanie, 15, Patricia 17, Margaret, 11, Elizabeth, 9 and Danny, 8. The surviving children were Paul 21, Michael, 19, Anne, 14, Mary 12, Jim 18, and Sean 6. Their father Paul McCann, 45, tried unsuccesfully to reach the other members of his family through the flames. He is still in hospital suffering from shock. The rooming house fire on Sherbourne Street accounted for six deaths and, 10 other people were injured as they jumped or dashed to safety from the flaming 80 -year-old house. 'Eight other people were injured in Beaches area fires where 200 people were forced from their apartments. Since the fires the demand for smoke detecting and fire alarm systems in Metro stores has been phenomenal. There is also talk that the Ontario Legislature is thinking of making the detectors mandatory. Solicitor General George Kerr told the House that smoke detectors or fire alarms could be made mandatory in the new provincial fire code currently being prepared. Larry Grossman, Consumer and Commercial Relations Minister, said all new houses must have the detectors and municipalities have the right to make them mandatory. Grossman said his ministry en- courages insurance companies to lower their premiums to people who install the devices and he applauds those who sell them to their clients at •a discount. Retailers in Toronto reported that sales have soared and companies are working at top speed to fill orders. People buying the smoke detectors, did so in the wake of the fatal fires, and said they at least want to have a chance of escape for their families in case of fire. The use of detectors and alarms in new homes is wise but is perhaps more critical in older homes. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau ad- mitted last week that the recent public opinion polls -that now have the Liberal and Conservative parties running even has given him second thoughts about calling an election. But Mr. Trudeau was. certain he would stay on as leader of the party. Trudeau then put an end to some of the speculation about the election saying he would make an announcement this week on whether he 'would call an early election orwhether he would wait until the fall or possibly the spring. When asked if the recent polls prompted him to think of resigning as CANADA leader of the party; Trudeau said that he has been much lower in the polls and never had any second thoughts about resigning. .However, he did say there was a message in the polls, a message of concern about his government's economic policy. In the April survey the Liberals and Conservatives were tied with 41 percent of the popular vote and the survey represented a rise of seven percentage points in one rnonth for the Con- servatives. Four of those percentage points were at the expense of the Liberals and three at the expense of the NDP. IN Trudeau said the survey indicated that the citizens are uncertain which government they would elect. The media claims the poll has had a sobering effect on the prime minister, who was much more subdued at his weekly press conference. Mr. Trudeau said that many of his party members were still anxious to have an election but he admitted that he was less confident in himself than the party members. The public seems to have made it clear that it is more concerned about economic matters than national unity and the Liberals have given specific SEVEN priority to economic matters. Trudeau also made frequent references to the summit meeting of western leaders on economic concerns to be held this July in Bonn that underlines his 'strategy of keeping the focus on his Government's efforts to deal with the ailing economy. Aside from the election, Trudeau also had to deal-- with a sensitive issue of RCMP surveillance of politicians and the PM suggested that parliament should debate a resolution about the forces activities. Trudeau said he would not ban a resolution banning surveillance but said he couldn't find anything'repulsive about. it. He also claimed that he•didn't know. anything about the systematic checking bh the RCMP security service of the names of political candidates against its intelligence files until a manual outlining the procedure was leaked by the Globe and Mail. He made inquiries and claimed the RCMP has been using this surveillance practice on politicians for over 35 years. The leaked manual, prepared in 1971, was not connected with the Govern- ment's direction to the RCMP to set up surveillance against internal subversion issued after the Quebec crisis in the fall' of 1970. The Cabinet ordered the RCMP to -cease systematic surveillance of legitimate political parties, particularly the Parti Quebecois, in 1975, but that order did not apply to the broader practice of checking upon candidates who had previously come to the attention of the security service. Trudeau said he realized the RCMP surveillance had bothered people that were less sensitive than himself but added that he could not really get ex- cited about it. V During Richard Nixon's presidency he held three summit meetings with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and despite their vast differences Nixon,' in his memoirs, claims the two enjoyed a warm relationship. In a series of excerpts of the Nixon Memoirs published in the Toronto Star, Nixon talked of his three summit meetings with the Soviet Leader. He explained that his first meeting was cordial but blunt. It was not easy for Nixon to conduct thr' summit in the first place, since the U... States renewed bombing in North •ietnam, but overriding issues of relations between the two countries took precedence. WDR LDWE.EK Nixon went to Moscow in May.1972,and the two leaders signed an agreement on space exploration before leaving fof dinner outside Moscow. But before dinner Brezhnev suggested to Nixon that they have a meeting. The meeting lasted three hours as Soviet officials grilled Nixon about his stand in Vietnam. Later the leaders signed an anti- ballistic missile treaty and the Interim Offensive Agreement, which put a freeze on . the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine launched missiles that each side could possess. Brezhnev later returned the summit when he visited the United States in June 1973. He arrived at Camp David and spent a couple of days there adjusting to the time difference and the climate before meeting with Nixon. During' ,that visit Nixon presented Brezhnev with a brand new Lincoln Continental that was donated by the'car manufacturer and the soviet leader, a car buff, decided on an immediate test drive with Nixon as his passenger. Brezhnev took the car for a tour around the perimeter of Camp David. On one stretch of the road there was a rather steep incline with a sharp curve and Brezhnev driving in excess of 50 miles per hour had to slam on the brakes as he took the curve. In their usual display of diplomacy Brezhnev told Nixon that the car han- dled extremely well and Nixon replied that Brezhnev was a capable driver. Later Nixon held a poolside cocktail party in California and several movie stars were in attendance. Nixon remarked that the Soviet Leader showed knowledge of the American movie stars and greeted each guest warmly. That evening as Nixon was in bed reading, Brezhnev came to the door and said he wanted to meet with Nixon. Again the leaders had a gruelling three- hour meeting, this time concerning the Mid -East. In January of 1974, the Soviets agreed to announce the date of a scheduled Summit III, that was to be held in Moscow in the summer. The meeting was held in June, one year after Brezhnev had visited the United States, and Nixon stated that in normal times it would have been considered a success. The meeting brought the leaders closer to a test ban, brought further restriction on anti -ballistic missiles, agreements on controls of en- vironmental warfare and co-operation in energy, the establishment of more consulates in the two countries and a verbal agreement between the leaders to hold another summit before the end of 1974 to discuss the limitations of of- • e fensive nuclear weapons. Nixon claimed that his Watergate problems and the impeachment hearings did not interfere with Summit III. He believed that Brezhnev gambled that Nixon would survive the ordeal and therefore deliver what had been promised between the leaders. The post Watergate books produced Nixon and numerous aides involved in the affair are meeting with mixed reactions from the public. There is a concerted effort to downplay the books but Nixon's Memoirs will still un- doubtedly attract a large readership. For the past week every man, woman and child in the nation has been unr barrage of reminders, advertiseme and warnings that Sunday is one of the most important days of the year, Mother's Day. The' day when everyone, after all everyone here has a mother, makes a special effort to show their mother whatshe really means to them. I began to reminisce when I asked myself that question. I recalled. times when my mother got up on the soap box for me, times when she wanted to crawl under a rock because of me, times she was excited and happy for me and times when sheprobably wishes I was someone else's son. As those memories went through my mind I came up with the realization that part of the fulfillment of my mother's life is because of me. I mean while I love her and remember lots of good times in my childhood part of the reason she may be able to look back on her life and smile is because I was in her past and, un- fortunately for her at' times, I am in her present, That all probably sounds vain but I don't mean that without me my mother's life would have been a bore. What I mean is that when she had children she probably wanted your average child that would get into mischief at times ari�7'on occasion I probably fit the bill, do something nice for someone and make her proud and I once helped a little, old woman across a busy street, do well in school and I once won an elementary school public speaking contest and be successful in a career and while I'm no Edgar Allan Poe I do like my job and am happy and isn't that part of success. I'm having my doubts that my mother will buy this offer of fond memories instead of flowers so I'd like to sweeten the pot. There's probably some things in the past that she has forgotten and I may have to make her day with some reminders like these. Remember the time I borrowed Peter Southall's brand, new racer and was tearing around the neighborhood and crashed into, Yvonne Fuller's new bike. Remember she fell on the gravel road and cut herself all up and both bikes were practically ruined and everyone wanted us to buy new bikes because of it. I remember you weren't all that happy but you've got to admit you learned to negotiate and drive a bargain for yourself, we never did have to buy new bikes. Remember when Judy, Greg and I went into the neighbor's house when they weren't home and had some lunch. Judy took a liking to some jewelry that was just lying around and Greg found some loose change and was going to treat us all at the store. I remember you calming the neighbor down telling him kids will be kids but that's not what you told me after he left. A fine example of how a reasonable approach . to a problem permits you to come up with a solution everyone can live with. In that Case • everyone was happy but me. 1 thought I would die in the house before you lifted the grounding orders. The more I think about our past together the more I know that a trip down memory lane is going to be more fun than a bouquet of flowers. Don't get the idea that the only person that learned from experience was you. Remember that morning I was running to catch the school bus and grabbed that lunch bag off the counter. I assumed it was my lunch but when I sat down in the cafeteria and pulled out your nylon stockings and garter belt I could have killed you. It could have been em- barrassing but I managed a couple of lines to keep all my friends from roasting me. The purpose of this whole exercise is to point out that possibly Mother's Day is not just a time to buy a little something and say some nice things but a time to do some thinking about what we mean to each other. If it works maybe every other day of the year will be special to us and later on we can get. together and have Son's Day. I'm not sure I'll be willing to accept a memory to honor that occasion after all it was you that taught me to work towards a good life. jeff Seddon 1