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The federal election is rapidly fading from the na- tional memory. But the controversy regarding Li-, beral candidate Frank Epp lives on - locally at least. I'm not fond of causes or crusades. In fact I’d be happy to let the issue rest. But at least two local peo- ple disagree. ' ' I received a letter to the editor last Thursday, may. ing some very strong statements about the alleged smear campaign launched against Epp. Unfortunate- ly the letter was signed, "A concerned and angry resi- dent". Since our policy is to print only letters which are attributed, reouidn't print the letter. In my day. during the Depression, the only people who could afford to travel were the hoboes. They could afford it because they didn't have any money They rode free on the tops and inside the box-cars of freight trains. And they didn't have any responsibili- ties except the next meal and a place to sleep. Looking back, I was one of the.lucky ones. Most of my generation of youth was forced by circumstances to stay home, get any job available, and bang on to it like grim death, never venturing forth on the highmads of life. I was the envy of my classmates, when. at IT, I nabbed a job on the upper lake boats, and could come home bragging of having been to such bizarre. exotic places as Duluth, Sault Ste. Marie, De. tmit, the Lakehead. Today's youngsters would sneer at such bourgeois travels. They exchange anecdotes about Morocco and Moscow, Athens and Australia. Paris and Port-aw Prince, Delhi and Dubrovnik. Fair nauseates me. it When you and I were young, most of us didn't get much farther than the next town. A minority visited the city occasionally, and it was considered a big deal. And a shal whale of a lot of people never did get to see a big city in their entire lives. And were no worse off for it, of course. Man, how that has changed. Nowadays. young peo- ple go galloping off to the tour comer: of the earth with no more thought about it than we'd have given to a weekend in the city. They're so blase about it that it's sickening to an old guy like me, who has always yearned to travel. and never had the time or unney or freedom to do it. I also received a phone call - also anonymous - saying the same things as the letter had.So it would seem some people still feel pretty strongly about the issue. Both the letter and the caller claimed the smear campaign was highly organized. Both also said such a campaign had been launched at the person in question at least twice before. And both felt the campaign was wrong, unjustified and illegal. _ Sometimes I am convinced rims born 30 years too soon. When I see the wonderful opportunities for tra- vel young people have today, I tum peagreen with envy. I don't know about those) allegations - except for the last one. As far as I have been able to learn. When I'm following another vehicle I prefer having the opportunity of second guessing the other driver by looking at his/her tail and direction lights. At least you have a split second to make a decision if you can see the sudden flash of lights. Did you notice the number of dipsticks driving around with massive snowdrifts covering their lights ... both front and rear? , Visibility was bad enough Saturday, but these jerks The Regina! police should crack down on drivers who refuse to dean their an off properly following may: nouns. . - A prime example of this irresponsible lack of con- cern could be found just about anywhere you looked last Saturday when southern Ontario was hit with its first real storm of the Season. 'v., _ Granted, “were all caught off guard by the wee- kend blast that created havoc on our streets, but that's no_ gxcpgg for driving withrpopr yit'ibility, Bill Smiley Stewart Sutherland Sounds fine, right? Fine for adults maybe. Circulate the petition in public places, colleges and universities. even door to door. But such a document does not bekmg in ‘our schools.‘ _ t In the last decade, the travel bug has spilled over into the high schools. Some of them are beginning to sound like agencies. with frequent announcements over the PA. system: My nieces are just " peripatetic. They've been to the West Coast. France, England. Russia. A four-day trip to New York. for them, is scarcely worth men- tioning. Migawd, I'd have given my left eyeball to see New York when l was their age! I thought it was pretty earth-shaking the first time I saw Toronto. Toronto, ye-e-cette. - Thousands of university students annually take a year off. borrow some money. stuff a packsack and head out for a year of humming around Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa. India. Rotten kids! "Those srttoure involved in the spring break trip to the Canary Islands drould have their passports by March Ht." l My nephews have seen, more countries than Chris Columbus or Sir Francis Drake. One‘s an airline pilot, and knows Europe. North America and the West Indies the way I know my way to school. Another has worked in the Canadian north, Quebec, the Congo. Jamaica. and Costa Rica. “Will the group going to Rome in the winter break please assemble in Room 202 at 3:30 for a lesson in tying your toga." "All those taking the Venezuela trip are requested to _ Mr. Vagabond in, mm 727 at 3:15 today." By the time he was 22, my own son had lived on both coasts of Canada, been to Mexico, New Orleans. Texas, Israel, Ireland, and a hundred other places that are just names in an atlas to me. He's been to Pas-away. South America, and has visited Argentina an Bolivia. He speaks four languages. I streak one. and Bolivia. He speaks four languages. I speik one. not too well. According to board of education superintendent of operations Stewart Whitney, only students from The caller claimed a smear campaign was illegal if it provoked violence. That may be so, but how can anyone prove the letter-writing campaign promoted violence? Again, I'm not attempting to draw out the issue. I'd suggest to all the offended parties that the best solu. tion would be to forget about the entire ugly matter. The board decided this week to allow a petition deal- ing with Canadian unity in view of the upcoming Que- bec referendum, and asks all concemed Canadians to sign up and discouragé separatism. . there's nothing illegal about such an organized cam- paign in an election situation. Speaking of ugly - I think the Waterloo county terti.or education may have set an unattractive pre- ihadstewedtohehasiGtirtpdshtterearoutota ditch when the powers that be sublithinally suggested she put it. didn‘t heb the situation at aw. It would take all at my tirtgersamtmoattttrrtrtoestrtatMypthemmttterot near-misses I had with other drivers. No. it wasn‘t a case of uilgatingon my part. Hike toputplentypt 1etteeettr?ttetfedttteetthtrpyeyeaoitd'er the tteatttdemtditimt0 wasa combinationotnot knowing what the other drivers had on their minds and mad conditions that 'reretetter suited to thejun- ior men's curling championships It tt'etpsifrotteattseettte1ights. " All glass should be scraped clean so you can see other drivers, no matter what direction they are com- ing from. I fmmd I had to stop several times to clean my windows, but at least it gave me a little peace of mind, even if it did prolong my trip somewhat. "An urgent meeting will be held today for those who slieandrpushedetiiettersondidhisbesttosteer fo ward Elliott Oh, I've been around all right. But somehow it wasn‘t quite the same. Battling through Deutschland on’a train with a “May stubble of beard on your chin and a tag-end of sour black bread stuffed into your battledress blouse is not quite similar to climbing aboard a 147 with your totehag and waiting for the stewardess to bring your first meal. Would I trade? Not M. your life. Oh, it's not that I haven't travelled. I've been to Great Britain. And spent two years staggering around in the blackout or wading through the torrential rains of bonnie Scotland. I've been to France. Slept five weeks in a tent in an orchard in Normandy. Been to Belgium. Antwerp; buzz-bombs. Know Holland well. Spent two weeks locked in a box-car in a railway sid- ing at Utrecht. Am intimately acquainted with Ger- many. Was bombed in Bramsweig and Leipzig, and spent a delightful six months in salubrious Pomeran- ia. as a guest of the Third Reich. Perhaps this sounds like sour grapes. Well, it is. As Shaw said: "The trouble with youth is that it is wasted on the young." And as Smiley says: "The trouble with travel is that it is wasted on kids who don't know a Grecian um from an Italian pizza." Next thing you know, this travel binge will bulge over into the elementary schools, and great 747-loads of little shavers from Grade Eight will be descending on the unsuspecting residents of Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro. Lord help them. It fairly makes your head swim, especially when your own idea of a trip south is 100 miles to the city for a weekend. a trip west means a visit to great-grandad. and a trip east means you‘re going to a funeral or a wedding among.the 'relatives. plan to take the London-Paris trip during spring break. All seats are now filled. If enough are interest- ed, we'll hire another plane." ieges to other groups. Students are" not' in school to exert their political influence on any matter. They're there to learn. Will their decision be the same when the next group wants to circulate a petition in our schools? If they deny permission to a group in the future, how will trustees and staff Justify their decision? If a student in Grade 7 is old enough to sign a formal petition on national unity, why isn't a student in Grade 6? Is there something magical about graduating into Grade T? Where do we draw the line? I'm sure the originators of this petition - the Cana- dian School Trustees’ Association - had the best in- tentions whei they asked the local board to circulate the petition. None-the-less local trustees were wrong when they decided to allow circulation. This particular cause is an honorable one, in most people's minds. But by allowing the national unity pe- tition in 120 region schools, the board is setting a dan- gerous precedent. lf one cause can be tonight in classrooms around the Region. the board is obligated to give similar privi- No damage incurred though ...just a slight bruise where the sun never shines. If I sound slightly grumpy. that's fine with me. I wouldn't mind hanging around to see my thirtieth birthday no matter what the opposition has in mind! Grades 7 to 13 should be allowed to sign the petition. To me that makes no sense at all. dear at obstructiuu. We were babbling any to each '8tterrt1eetttteenatt'serestettAemttteahapeartd size at dinner plates ... slight exaggeration there more the size of silver dollars. I just had time toglan- ee over my shudder before! was thrown into a ditch by: car that was sliding otetoteoettrr?t! _ 1hewornaninthesecondcarranoverandapolo sized profusely. She said she couldn't see me. Damn right she couldn't! She had carved a tiny porthole out of a tour-inch drift on her windshield. I suppose there were other windows supplied with her car when she bought it PWt I'm only guessing thwgh because the rest of the car was obscured by snow. WOW W.deadny. M111” - Plot ,