PAGE 6, WH' TBY FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, MAY O0, 1973 BIRD'S EYE VIE w by JIm Qual CATFISH HOLE IS 0GONE! Not only is the catfish hole gone bût so has the whole area that was a real fun place to be on a hot summer afternoon. The best place to catch catfish was at the south end of Brock Street just before you got to the lake. Where McNamara Marine now stands used to be a huge swamp and it was always loaded with fish and fishermen. Now the only time you see a fisherman at the lake is during smelt season. It seenis a sad mark of the tumes that we are so industrially building pa rks and green areas for our leisure tumes that we have completely forgot- ten about the natural green areas that were much more fun than any- thing man-made. The swamp in Port Whitby used to be a great place to explore. It was always overgrown wîth reeds and buzzing with dragonflies and you could almost get a catfish with your bare hands. In our leisure time we didn't have to go to a park and try to whip up some arti- ficial fun, we just rode our bikes to the port and explored the swamp like Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn. One thiîig you couîdn't do was swrni in the sw- amp but then a good sw- amp shouldn't be suitable for swimming so when it got too hot to explore we would just ride our bikes a little further sou- th and go swimmning off the dock or at the beach. 1 can reniemrber one of the first Free Press issues lamenting the ab- sence of a life preserver at the beach but when 1 went to that beach as a kid we didn't have a life preserver but we sure had good s-wimming and lots of fun. 1 suppose it's only nMy imagination but the water seemed warmier ini those days back ini the early fifties and it was sure a heck of a lot, cleaner. The beach was always Ioaded with people and the snack bar was open most of the time instead of the few times it is now open. After a vigorous clinib on the rock piles at the docks and a quick tour of the commercial fishing boats that used to work of the commercial fishing boats that used to work out of the port we would head for the swimming end of the dock and dare each other to dive the Now that the town has iniproved Port Whitby things are much better. The 'dirty old swamp' has been filled in to be replaced by chain link fencing and rusting ships and wcrap iron. 0f course most of the fish are gone as weIl as the black birds and seaguils and there are no more commercial fisherman or quaint fish- ing shacks and except for the dead fjsh and polîuted water the beach is abso- Iutely sterile. Gone too are the peo- ple. Some of theni have discovered the hospital beach which is at the end of the road to the psy. chiattic hospital and on the east side. Thie yacht club is also situated in that area. Where the Whitby Yacht Club now stands used to be one of the most funi places of ail ini Port Whitby. Protected behind the breakwater was a couple of islands overgrown with trees and foliage andjust filîed with wildlife. It was the kind of place you went to build a raft from drift wood and then took off in searcb ofturtles. A school chum and 1 saw a fifty pounder down there one hot day and he and 1 used to spend whole days exploring the area. There was a couple of partialîy sunken barges out in the bay and we would swim or wade out to them and spend hours lying on top of them sunning ourselves or po- king around looking at the smail fish huddling among the rotten tim- bers. There was another sw- amp just north of the yacht club and every Spring it would be 10- aded with suckers look- ing for a place to spawn their eggs. 1 remember rolling up niy pant legs and wading in aftersuck- ers. They would just hover ini the water, mo- tionless and if you nioved slowly and quietly you could catch them with your bare hands. 1 cau- ghi a few but neyer had the heart to keep them so 1 would just let -theni go again and inarvel at how fast they could dis- appear when given their freedom. 0f ail the nice dlean septie parks ini town none V CIG lO compare witlithe plea- sant memories of explor- e E ing the swamps in Port Whitby except for the 'TRUST COMPANY SINCE 1081 swimming pool in the nortlî end of town. r____________ PROIJEOT SWEEP The Central Lake Onta- rio Conservation Authori- ty is again operating Pro- ject SWEEP (students Working in an Environ- mental Enhancement Pro- gram) under a grant froni the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The Central Lake Ontario Con- servation Authority covers an area of some 250 square miles from Pickering Town- ship on the west to Clarke on the east, north to the Ridges. MaIe and female stu- dents, 18 years and older, wiIl be hired as labourers commencing in mid-iune. Their duties wiIl include cleanup along roads. str- eamsides. mi~d lakeshore. as well as development and maintenance in Con- FURNISHED OR UNFURNISHED APARIMENTS AVAILABLE PHONE 558-5617 PREGNANT? NEED HELF? Adoption Services, Progn.ncy Testine, Etc.... CA IL: Naional Famnily Planning HELP WANTED INSIDE SALESPERSON, VERSATILE, MINI- MUM GRADE 12 EDUCATION. ALL COMPANY BENEFITS. FIRESTONE STORES 942-3625 DR@ WL CHANG WISHES TO ANNOUNCE THE OPENING 0F HIS OFFICE AT 519 DUNDAS STREET EAST, SUITE NO. 7, WHITBY, ONTARIO FAMILY PIIYSICIAI 668-5871 DIRECT TO You Mm t: 9 O c m p servation Areas. Public education will be stressed, in c 'onservation practices, and environnmental impro- vement activities. Labourers will be paid $2.00 per hour, plus va- cation pay, and will work a 40 hour week, for a period of at least ten weeks. Whitby students will be working out of the Heber Down Conservation Areal. Application fornis for Project SWEEP are pre- sently available at the Cen- tral Lake Ontario Conser- vation Authority office at 69 King Street East, in Oshawa. Application must be made by lune 8th at the latest. EMM SPEAKS UP The Planning Board's report to Council Mon- day niglit caused much discussion about the pro- posed development north of the Greenbelt. Tne recommendation froni the Planning Board concerning populationwas '-that the urban develop- ment north of the Green- belt be investigated with the Region and the Pro- vince, be planned for 25,000 persons on a full service basis and until the sanitary services are a- vailable the rural nature of the harnlet be protec- ted by limiting growth to infill." Councillor Emnili said that hie felt that not just sewers, but also water, roads and hydro have to be taken into considera- tion. He suggested buil- ding on every other lot ini an 'Estate Type' plan where individual lots would have their own septic tanks, and that lie would like to see the The recommendation was accepted by Coun- cil. Hence, it appears 'Brooklin wiIl remnain don- niant for sométitue. THE CARSON FUNERAL HOME & CHAPEL Personai Fomily Service To Erook lin and Surrounding Areos Robert J.Corson- Funerol Director 655-3662 Day or Night-- Funerals WIthia, The M son* 0f Ail Familles 79 Baldwin St., Irookin (Hw y.. 72 & 7 668461