WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1988, PAGE 5 Imagine Lucas Letterpress late of a summer day, whistling down the main street, ducking around the recently watered potted petunias placed high on light standards by well-meaning civic boosters. You might think it is his vacation, starting today, that causes his merriment. And to Lucas, whistling is merriment, or an expression thereof, although music purists might not be so charmed. Painful burden, that, passable pitch. Or you might think that Lucas has recently inherited a small fortune. Or despite his private conviction that lotteries are a tax on fools, that he had, to his happy chagrin, won the second prize in the Wintario draw. You would be wrong on all counts. No, Lucas is planning a gardening project these days, and that always sets him whistling . He always whistles while he plans. When he actually sets out to do the work his demeanor changes. Take last year. Lucas whistled through seven weeks, planning how he'd re-sod his whole lawn, front and back, rather than try to rid it of weeks and insects and bald spots. "What's the project this time," queries Mayor Johnny Cannuck. Mayor Johnny dressed in a storekeeper's smock, sweeps the front sidewalk in front of his insurance office every day. He has heard before of Lucas' garden projects. "Brick," replies Lucas. "Gold brick?". "You've got all those, Johnny my boy," quips Lucas. "No, interlocking brick." Mere mortals, Joh~nny Cannuck being one, recoil in horror at the mention of such things. Mayor Johnny recoils. "You dares't say!" "Yup." Mayor Johnny cups his chin in bis hands as he leans on the broom. He motions to Everett MacCaulifleur, the ex-boxer who runs the Baby Boutique across the street. "He's doind brick!" he shouts. WITHOUR FEET UP by Bill Swan Of bricks and plans Everett sprints in fancy footwork through trattic to cross the street. "Brick!" he says Lucas nods. "Doin' it yerself?" Lucas nods again. MacCaulifleur exchanges glances with Mayor Johnny. Both roll eyes upward until the whites disappear. "I suppose," says MacCaulifleur, "that we'll be reading about his next week in The Flat Tail. Lucas, in case I didn't mention, is the editor and prop. of the Flat Tail, (circulation 1,200) the only newspaper pub- lished entirely in Beaver, Ont. (pop. 5,678). "Could be," says Lucas, his hands stuffed deeply into his pockets, his lips pursed in that whistling stance we all know so well. "Doin' it yerself," repeats MacCaulifleur. Mayor Johnny shuffles uncomfortably. He has a question and no politician ever dares to question the media. Still, he does. "Why?" he says. Lucas grins, whistles a few bars of 'If I Were A Rich Man.' "Started out just as a little patio," he says. "About, oh, fifty square feet. Figured out it would take about 150 bricks. Mrs. Letterpress said she wanted just a little area. Not enough to hire anybody to do. You know, 150 bricks. 'Now bricks corne in bundles of 190 or so. So we expanded it a bit, made it about 63 square feet. Then we sketched out where we want it. Well,. I find we needs about a yard of limestone screenings to lay under this stuff. "But it's going to cost me the same for one yard as it would for five. So what the heck! I might as well have the five yards, right? "Okay, that gives me four yards of limestone extra. Might's well use it, eh? So now I figure I can do about 240 square feet of brick, altogether. That'll use up all the limestone. "Next I find that with five bundles of bricks I can save $37.50 on the delivery charges, what with full loads and all. I figure, why not? "So I order 20 bundles of bricks. "That's enough to do 2,000 square feet. But to do that, Ill need another 20 yeard of limestone. "Right about now I figure, whoa! Somebody has to dig out all that dirt and truck it somewhere before we lay this base down, right? Now it's too much to do with a wheelbarrow. I talk to this guy about coming in with a front end loader and digging it out. "He .says it'll cost me the same for one shovelful as for the whole back yard. I say, what the heck; "So tomorrow I've got an excavator with a front end loader coming, along with 50 yards of limestone screenings and about 15,000 interlocking bricks. I'm doing the back yard and the front. I never did like cuti.ng rasjanywy." Mayor Johnny drops his hand over Lucas' shoulder. "Now you understand how government works." Lucas whistles. "All part of good planning. It's the only way I know of to get rid of the 38 palettes of sod I had delivered last year. Never did get around to getting that stuff laid." Monthly totals biggest ever for building in Whitby Spurred by industrial and commercial development, Whitby has posted its two biggest consecutive months for building value, according to the monthly building report from the Town public works department. ·The Town issued $27,314,798 worth of permits during June, putting the two- month (May and June) total at $51,299,370. "We haven't stopped: This is our biggest two months," com- mented Mayor Bob Attersley on the report. The Town issued $7,708,000 worth of industrial permits and $4,180,000 worth of commercial permits prompting Attersley to say that there is work available in Whitby. "There is no unemployment around here. This (building) provides opportunity for jobs." Of the $7.7 million, $3.2 million was for renovations to Anca Labs and an unspecified amount for construction of Com- puter Composition on Stanley Crt. West ward councillor Joe Bugelli is vice president of Computer Composition. Moreover, according to Attersley, there is another $7 million in permits already being processed for July, including a $3.2-million interior renovation to Fairview Lodge. The main chunk of the commercial permits is for the construction of stores as part of a condominium tower on the southeast corner of Rossland Rd. and Garden St. The Town issued $15.3 million in residential permits for 121 single family homes and 44 townhouses. To date, $78.2 million in permits have been issued, more than $5 million over last year's total of $73 million at this time. The Town collected $184,244 in fees during June bringing the total to $532,070. - , . '9- ~ ,~,.ji ~ jO~r r' Il .,'...;. How to organize 5 pairs of jeans, 3 party dresses, ilt-shirts, 7 sweaters, 4 pairs of pajamas, 6 dolls, 1stuffed teddy bear, 12 pairs of stockings, 5 blouses, 5 skirts, 17 hair ribbons, 5 pairs of shoes, 3 pairs of ballet slippers, and 1 diary (very secret). THE YOUNG GýIRIS CLOSET NOW ON SAL SRACE AGE SHELVINO] WE MAUE OUSE CALLS. CALL FOR A FREE ESnMATE 80 THICKSON RD. S. THICKSON PLACE PLAZA WHITBY 430-1636 Store Hours: Monday - Wednes'day 10 amr to 6 m 1utsday & Fr day 9 mr to 9 pm" Saturday 9 amr to 6 pm' 1 1 1