Page 4, Terrace Bay-Schreiber News, Wednesday, February 13, 1985 : The Terrace Bay-Schreiber News is published every Wednesday by: Terrace Bay Laurentian Publishing Co. Ltd., Box 579, Terrace Bay, Ontario, POT 2wWo. Telephone: (807) 825-3747. RAY -GENERAL/ADVERTISING MANAGER ...............-- Vivian Ludington REPORTER... a. ee Sandra Sebestyen G@gua OOPRUE is Fa pe Kelley Ann Chesley PRODUCTION MANAGER..............-----+--++sieseee Mary Melo 32 Point made By Vivian Ludington A few weeks ago, someone asked me if there was anything I could do to draw attention to the fact that many people here in town go . out of town to do their shopping. It doesn't seem fair after all, as the businesses here rely on us for their livelihoods. Some say the prices are higher, but that is not always true. In many cases you can save. You really save on gas and wear and tear on your car by shopping locally. Others say the selection is not as great. This may be true but most merchants are very obliging and I'm sure would do their best to fill special orders. We think it could be a lack o f local advertising from the merchants. On behalf of the paper I would like to say that perhaps more mer- chants would consider advertising their products locally. Advertising is a major key to success. You have to invite your customers into your store, make them feel special, make them feel wanted, offer them what they need and want, and what better way than to start with your local newspaper the '"Terrace Bay-Schreiber News.'"' We like any other paper depend on advertising to put the message "Id even settle ra rose petal e fron Ferre |" / out to our readers. We know the readers read the paper every week and they will read your ad. We are improving the paper weekly. You can improve your business by supporting your local weekly newspaper, The Terrace Bay-Schreiber News. Arms control Greetings Dear Editor: Did you know? February Ist, 1947, that's 38 years ago, the first Post Office in Terrace Bay, opened it's doors. During the past two years it has become evident that Canadians, like people in other industrialized countries, have become very concerned with the almost uncontrolled escala- tion of the nuclear arms race. They realize that a nuclear war would most likely end with the destruc- tion of all mankind. Yet they are confused about the extent of the problem, about the reason the arms race is escalating, and about what Canada can do to help end it. Venice is Sinking? Newspaper editors (present com- pany excepted of course) are a fairly predictable species of birds. They tend to be crusty, blunt of tongue and prone to keeping a canteen of Seagrams VO in the filing cabinet. They're tough on politicians, but put- ty in the hands of the City Hall recep- tionist. They're kind to little old blue- haired ladies and Hell On Earth to green cub reporters. Oh, and one other thing. Newspaper editors are terrified of White Space. That, after all, is an editor's job -- to fill White Space. If they had their druthers, editors would fill the White Space with a five-column expose ripping the veil off a City Council-Drug-Ring- Sex-Orgy-Slave-Trade-Cartel ... but if that story isn't available, just about Recent research has shown that 75 per cent of middle class Canadians rate arms control and disarma- ment measures as very im- portant, yet want to see the maintenance of our collec- tive security agreements. About 85 per cent of Cana- dians support some kind of nuclear freeze. The Canadian Centre for Arms Control and Disar- mament was established in 1983 in the belief that the public debate needs to be elevated. The Centre was set up as a result of private initiative, with the financial backing of a number of private Canadian founda- tions, corporations, and the federal government: Not being a lobby group, but rather a charitable educa- tional organization, our purpose is to encourage in- formed debate, and to pro- vide Canadians with in- dependent, non-partisan research and reliable infor- mation relating to arms control and disarmament. Special emphasis is placed on Canadian interests and opportunities | for diplomatic initiative, and on helping to overcome ' anything will do. Even the old Venice-Is-Sinking story. That's just about the hoariest of shafts in the editor's quiver of newspaper fillers. Venice is sinking of course. Has been, near as I can figure -- ever since some none-too- bright architect nailed that first building permit to a tree trunk in the middle of a swamp on the northeast coast of Italy several hundred years ago. Of course Venice is sinking -- it's built on a foundation akin to ins- tant mashed potatoes, so why wouldn't it sink. Cities aren't suppos- ed to float. The obviousness and inevitability of the Venice situation seems not to have dawned on newspaper editors. Year after year they run breathless outmoded thinking about the problem. Over the past year, the Centre has achieved a solid reputation for its balanced, constructive approach. If it is to have the impact it needs, however, it has to reach Canadians in_ all areas of the country and make them aware of its ex- istence and its programs. Sincerely yours, John M. Lamb Executive: Director Canadian Centre for Arms Control and Disarmament stories about Venice's impending fate -- and always as if that fate has just been surmised. The only thing har- dier than the Venice-Is-Sinking story, is the city itself. Venice just keeps handing in there. Treading water, I guess. Providing sustenance for generation after generation of newspaper editors. Ironically, there is a for-real scut- tling story coming out of Venice right now. Something is sinking in the Ci- ty of Gondolas alright, but it's not the city -- it's the gondolas. Gondolas are an exceedingly hybridized taxi cab specifically designed for the canals of Venice. Unlike virtually all other manmade watercraft, the gondola is not sym- metrical. .The port side curves more than the starboard, so that the entire boat can be propelled by a single oar, set on one side near the stern. Which is where the gondoliers stand -- have stood in fact for the past five centuries -- ferrying tourists around the canals of Venice with a curious kind of push-pull-and-twist on a single oar. To an amateur canoe-basher from Canada, it's an awkward-looking stroke, but it drives the gondola with a remarkable amount of power and precision. Needless to say, gondolas are not pre-fab, plywood, slap-up, assembly- line jobs. The graceful, flat-bottomed boats are carved by hand. Each one uses eight different kinds of wood and takes two months to construct. The bad news is that there are only four gondola craftsmen still in the business -- and three of them are in their seventies. Fortunately, the city fathers of Venice have become alarmed. Together with a group called (and I'm not making this up) The Association for the Protection of the Gondola and the Gondolier, they are opening a gondola construction school in which young apprentices will be taught the mysteries of the craft. I'm not worried about the gondola. It's bound to survive. I mean, if there were no gondolas, what would newspaper editors send reporters out in to research their Venice-Is-Sinking stories?