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A column devoted to recognizing events and decisions affecting the residents of Scugog Township, and rating them with a “Thumbs Up, or Thumbs Down!” Thumbs Up to members and friends of the Rotary Club, who celebrated 25 years of extraordinary service to this commu- nity. The Rotary Club is responsible for a lot of good projects and are to be commended for the fine job they do for their hometown as well as around the world. A big thanks to president Kathy and the gang! Thumbs Down to the party, or parties, trying to stirup the pending municipal election by posting signs around suggest- ing the editor of one of our local newspapers is on the mayor's election team. Scugog has never been part of negative campaigning in the past and it’s disappoint- ing to see someone trying to stir up the mud. Could this be the work of the mysterious ‘Phantom’ ? Thumbs Up to the creative merchants in the downtown who have made the ‘hallowed’ season just a little more interesting for shoppers. The colourful and unique scarecrows, found clinging to posts, window ledges and propped up in doorways along Queen St., are bringing smiles to lots of faces. Great idea! Thumbs Down to voting by mail. The intention may be good, but the effects are not. With nomination meetings a thing of the past and voting now taking place at home instead of in person at a polling station, the once excit- (y= ing election process no longer creates much interest for the electorate. Maybe we're just getting too old! Thumbs Up to volunteer Dan Denby for the amazing job he did constructing a birch bark canoe for the museum. Dan stripped the bark from trees, hand-formed cedar ribs, dug up spruce roots to stitch the birch patches together, then scraped sticky pitch from trees and mixed it wi fat to seal the seams. You’d have made the early native canoe builders proud Dan. Congratulations! Thumbs Down to Durham District School Board for their re- cent decision to increase salaries by more than 300 per cent, and also to make the pay retroactive to Sept. 2005. We agree the $5,000 stipends they were getting was far too little...but really! And to make matters a worse they voted themselves more than $20,000 in retroactive pay. Give your heads a shake! Thumbs Up to local artist Karen Richardson who took part in the autumn Art Sale at the prestigious McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg last month. Karen was one of 63 artists selected from 245 applicants to exhibit. Karen’s Shou Lop lov : Operation Daddy set to open Operation Daddy: Here Comes the War Brides is an “all- new swingin’ musical tribute to WWII...and the women our guys fell for ‘over there’!” Patrons are invited to take a musical journey back in time via this revue of showstoppers, patriotic ‘ditties’ and touching ballads of the 1940’s as made famous by stars of the day. This wonderful, original play is written and directed by Liz Auston. The show takes place at Town Hall 1873 from Novem- ber to December 2, 2006. Tickets and information are availa- ble by phoning 1-866-808-2006 or at Henshall’s Clothing, Port Perry. . : ° Christmas Tree Lighting Hard to believe, but with Christmas only seven weeks away members of the Port Perry BIA are turning their atten- tion to upcoming events. This year’s annual Tree Lighting Ceremony will have a new twist, with the introduction of a Candlelight Walk, on No- vember 25, following the Santa Claus Parade. The BIA invites the community to join them in Palmer Park at 6:30 p.m. to purchase candles. The walk along Queen Street will begin at 7 p.m. to the former BIA/Chamber of Commerce office for the tree lighting ceremony. For more information call (905) 985-4971 or email info@ discoverportperry.ca. STIHL ET THE JOB DONE with a STIHL Chain Saw STARTING AT ONLY ‘Dov't rates your ctanco te gotyoer own Wood-Pro™ 10t Chale saws botwoon sow aad Novernbor 30, 2906 ved os (Derbo'be FTN Wand Pom FREE. Thbs bit lecledas:a Woodsome Caring Case, | obele amd a Chale Sew Operation sed Malstmennce” DVD - mnie tes 4279" art is well known around Scugog and we her for this awesome achievement. Thumbs Down to anyone who starts to talk about Christmas before the end of October. Even before the little ghosts and gobblins finish their trek around town, we begin to see signs of Christmas decocrations creeping onto {t-— the streets and into stores. Say it ain’t so! focus@observerpub.ca meee ES emis 45° momenta 4S wee VALLANCE 905-655-3291 1-800-575-5656 EQUIPMENT 4179 Simcoe St. N., Oshawa (just 10km south of Port Perry) FOCUS - NOVEMBER 2006 21