September 29th, 1997 Edition
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SUMMER IS GONE WAS THE TOPLESS ISSUE SUCH AN ISSUE

Summer has come and summer has gone. What happened to all the topless females anticipated?

The new law came into affect early this year and just about everyone jumped on the issue. But was it, and is it an issue?

According to Durham Regional Police Services no arrest and no incidents became recorded.

City of Oshawa legal eagles are still mauling with the idea of passing a dress code by-law for all municipal buildings. This would make the Federal law weak. This would mean that if you decided to go topless at a city property you may face a trespassing charge. Like everything in Oshawa nothing yet has been resolved and it was promised that the issue would be dealt with sometime in late September, early November.

Early in the summer season some councillors, those opposing toplessness had gone public with allegations that some city residents had seen women topless. But non of the eye witnesses could be identified and none of the stories confirmed. So what is the status of the morality of our female population? Well if this law is any indication. You would have to say that nothing has really changed and that women are using discretion and good judgement.

But this raises a very solid question and a very serious observation. Why is it that our municipal representatives spend so much time on issues that are not really issues. Case in point in the topless issue.

Now think for a moment the Casino issue. Just about everyone had a say in what is moral and what is not. Yet the city of Oshawa spent tens of thousands of dollars on a referendum vote that a small percentage of the community participated in. For what purpose. We now have Ajax, and other municipalities considering welcoming Casinos, because they see them as potential cash cows, opportunities and better yet a step in the right direction.

In Oshawa we have the cow but no cash, no opportunity and the only motion is in our slogan. The problem is that our cash cow is being treated like a bull. Our municipal electorate keep taunting the issues hoping to make some brownie points with the electorate. But they failed to see that the electorate did not vote them in to see them bull fight. They elected them in to see them milk the cash cow for all it's worth, and hopefully improve everyone's lives. The topless issue is one that has received much publicity and many have an opinion but the bull fight continues at Oshawa City hall.

In other parts of the Province and in other cities, the topless issues have received marginal recognition and most other municipalities have had no charges laid against anyone for toplessness.

Vince Demitri works at the Lakeview Park and he said when asked about the topless issue. "I don't know what the big deal was, we had a few women with string bikinis but I did not see anyone topless."

Area resident Debbie Lommis, said "I read some thing in the paper about the topless issue, I have three teenage daughters and I would not even let them consider it. But I did not see or hear of any problems."

Jennifer Brown, of Pickering said, "I am a dancer and I have a lot of free time during the day and I would not consider going topless in any of the beaches. You never know what kind of weirdo you may run into. I probably would consider it in my back yard, pool or somewhere safe."

The topless issue will continue for summers to come. Is it something to worry about. You decided....