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Page 4, News, Tuesday, August 7, 1990 Editorial Publisher............... A. Sandy Harbinson The Terrace Bay - Schreiber News is published every Tuesday by Single copies 40 cents. Office Mgr................. Gayle A. Fournier (+ CNA Laurentian Publishing Limited, Box 579, 13 Simcoe Plaza, Terrace Bay, © Subscription rates: $16 per 4 : Ont., POT-2w0 Tel.: 807-825-3747. Second class mailing permit 2264. year / seniors $10 (local); News Editor fs eae 988 ee .-Angie Saunders r = Member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association and the $27 per year (out of 40 mile Advertising Mgr......Linda R Harbinson @ Canadian Community Newspaper Association. radius); $36 in U.S. Advertising Rep witeacad: Halyna O. Worth A <3 7} Reporter/Phtgr........... Monica Wenzlaff Where's Northern Ontario? Have you ever talked to a vacationer from the United States who knew absolutely nothing about Canada? "Wow, Canadian money looks like the stuff you use in Monopoly.", "What, You guys really have pizza up here?", "Where are all the Eskimos?", and "Have you ever eaten whale blubber?" These are just a few of the beauties I've heard from our southern neighbors who obviously don't know too much about our great nation. A lot of Canadians don't know enough about our country, including some of our Cabinet Ministers. On the radio last week, when questioned about Northern Ontario, a few Cabinet Ministers gave some far-from- intelligent comments. One minister thought it took six hours to drive from Toronto to Kenora. Fat chance. It's a well over 20-hour drive. Kenora is over 7 hours just from Schreiber. Another bright minister said he had passed through Northern Ontario on his way to Quebec from Toronto. « Not ln My Back Yara na ll ape ead \ full ttl tn 'eal One of the employees in a minister's office said that yes, the minister knew where Northern Ontario was- he has a il cottage at Haliburton where he spends many weekends. Too bad this city is located on the outskirts of Toronto. Only seven of the 22 Cabinet Ministers asked had travelled through Northern Ontario by train or car. I think this is a disgrace. How can Northern Ontario be represented by politicians when some don't even know where we are on the map of Canada? With an election coming up in September, most of us will be voting for whoever will do the best job. How will they do a good job for us if they don't even know we exist. Angie Saunders Letter to Editor Negatives to the proposal of housing library in rec complex Dear Editor, The Schreiber Public Library is a bustling hub of activity. Several children's programs are held there including guest fea- tures such as puppet shows and guest authors. The older children come for books and for toys from the toy lending library. Some come to do projects and to use the computers. Adults browse for books and enjoy conversations with friends. The Women's Drop In Centre offers fellowship, craft programs and seminars and is attended by women of all ages and back- grounds. Many bring their young children. It is indeed a busy atmosphere. Some of this activity might be diminished if the library is moved to the recreation complex. The trans-Canada highway must be crossed which will limit access for a lot of young people. Many of our senior citizens do not drive and will not be able to use these facilities especially during the cold winter months. The location will make the very busy night schedule unap- continued on page 8 You noticed how grim and grouchy your fellow Canucks are these days? There's a good reason for it. We're all living through a collective "morning after". Canada is suffering a national hangover. We feel bad. Ernest Hemingway once wrote something useful about feeling good and feeling bad. "What is moral" he said"is what you feel good after." It follows that an immoral act is something that makes you feel lousy--which I believe is the situation our country finds itself in. Canadians have drunk deeply at the Lake called Meech, and we have a sea-to-sea bad taste in our mouths. Ah ah! Don't turn that page. I don't intend to write about the M-word. Too many Canadian forests have already been sacrificed to produce the paper to describe that sleazy spectacle. Suffice to say that' when you've got a Prime Minister who compares etataéemanchin to 4 cran. choot. that's reason enough for citizens to reach for the Listerine. But there's more than Meechophobia in Canada's hangover. We've witnessed other un-classy acts. On our TV's we've watched cretinous bigots shredding and burning and trampling flags for the TV cameras. In both official languages. Out in Alberta we've seen other redneck yahoos smear and deface the welcoming signs to Consort, Alberta. Why? Because country singer k.d. lang hails from Consort. And k.d. has had the temerity to appear in television ads promoting vegetarianism. EAT BEEF, DYKE reads the splendidly witty message spray-painted on the Welcome To Consort sign. ° Oh, make no mistake about it--Canada is hurting. And overdue for a class act or two. So what is a Canadian class act? Well, I've always thought Gordie Howe qualified. Off ice: that is. 'I've never had the' » misfortune to meet Mister Howe cruising along the boards of a hockey arena, which I'm told is something like being bludgeoned by a burlap sack full of tire irons. In politics, I'd finger Dalton Arthur Black Camp as a class act, 'though I'd never admit to it in downtown Prince Albert. The Cape Breton thrush Rita McNeil always struck me as a class act, as does the dapper, deft: and: deliciously: droll Still a few class acts out there sports writer Trent Frayne. Of course in Frayne's case, it doesn't hurt to be married to writer June Callwood, one of the classiest acts this country's ever dished up. Wayne Gretzky...the swimmer Vicki Keith...Rick Hansen....Elijah Harper...and | that's about it for Canadian class acts these days. There's one other class act I want to tell you about. Kathleen Gooley doesn't | really qualify for my short list, because she's not Canadian. ' She lives in Connecticut. Last | month, she was going to | marry a psychologist at a fairly posh do. They'd rented a huge room at a well-known catering hall. Then they plunked down a little over $6,000 just for the reception. And that's when the psychologist got cold feet. He backed out. Called the wedding off. Panic stricken, broken-hearted Kathleen Gooley called to cancel the reception and-get her money_ _-Cheap at- twice the price. 6 J refunded. No dice, ma'am. The caterers would only refund a fraction of the fee. Which is when Kathleen Gooley unveiled her class act. She went ahead with the reception. But instead of friends and well-wishers and relatives and would-be relatives Kathleen invited all the homeless people from the greater Stamford area. So it was that on Kathleen Gooley's aborted wedding day, 150 outcasts and indigents came to be sitting down at a feast of stuffed chicken breast, string beans amandine, cake and ice cream. So what , you say. A wedding reception turned good will potlatch. One of the guests put it into perspective: "Even when you're homeless, you try and maintain some pride and dignity. At something like this, you can. This woman did a wonderful thing. She made us feel like real people again." Only six thousand bucks?