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A, \ N ¢ 4 hE FIT dvasasssuddedla scat alonista i ay a Reader' s Viewpoint The Editor: Congratulations to the Ratepayers on running an orderly, even though it was obviously an emotional public information meeting on June 27, concerning the possible construction of a Reception and Processing Centre for prisoners. It is equally obvious that propon- ents of such a project have to deal with the nebulous fears of many people. These fears must be replaced with an understanding of the ramifi- cations of the whole project. Fears that are justified must be put in proper perspective. Mr. Coy, (an opponent of the project), suggested that few, if any, people from Scugog Township were quali- fied to work in such an institution. He should note that he and, at least, 4 or 5 other members of the total 13 member Ratepayers Execu- tive, are already qualified to be hired immediately in an administrative, teaching or classification officer (social worker) capacity. Of the 13 people I work with in a garage, at least four have the potential to instruct a trade. Iam 100 per cent convinced. that graduates of our High School at their various aca- demic and trade levels have the capacity to be trained to work in such a prison whether it be as a guard, administrative, clerical or driver, kitchen worker and maintenance, etc. The prison as well will need help for medical, dental and religious problems. This is not a pronouncement that Scugog Township would staff the prison 100 per cent, but, I do feel we have the technical and otherwise qualified people to eventually fill at least 50 per cent of the-180 jobs that will be available. I can't accept the claim that most employees would choose to live elsewhere. It would be poor economical judgement to move, for example, to Oshawa rather than stay in Port Perry. The fact that you believe the project is too expensive or that Burwash or Kingston should be utilized are points well taken but are valid only if the decision to be made is either 'to build" or 'not build at all". For better or worse, the . decision has already been made to build and we played no role in making that Mother praises school teachers ear Editor, As my daugnter i> gradu-. ating from Grade 8 this year, I would like to extend my' thanks to Mr. Hogg and Mr. Hinch and the senior teachers of R. H. Cornish for their enthusiastic teaching and their interest in the individual pupil. The past two years of my daughters education have been the most enjoyable and rewarding~ she has experienced. Wishing all teachers a well deserved vacation. Sincerely, A Grateful Mother. decision. The decision we might take part in making is whether or not to let the Federal Government build a prison in Scugog Township. The danger? People at the meeting were wanting guar- antees of safety. An employ- er would be foolish to say he could guarantee that no one would ever get killed or even injured on his business or personal property. Look around you. One of the most obvious killers we have is Lake Scugog. For one reason or another, our own Lake has taken more civilian lives during the past 24 months than the total number of escaped convicts have from the 50 Federal 'prisons across Canada for the same period. In fact, the Federal Rep. for Peniten- tiary Service said he knew of noinstance where an escaped prisoner had killed a civilian. A young man I talked to said he knew of one such death, I will assume he is correct. Remember, the recent pro- blem in B.C. was internal. The only people in danger were staff. At no time were civilians ever in danger. Ironically, the staff member who was killed, was shot by those trying to help her. We might save a Port Perry life if we send the prison else- where, but then a life from the alternative location would then be taken (I am assuming the very long shot chance that a life would be taken at all). There is a greater certainty of saving lives if we closed the lake. The grant we would get for having the prison would now be about $90,000 per year and is adjusted every year, according to mill rate changes. Fortunately the people of Oshawa, Whitby, Uxbridge, Lindsay and Bowmanville have accepted their social responsibilities. We'd be in a- great mess if they had turn- ed their back on the various institutions they now have. I believe we have grown up enough to handle a prison. Without considering any benefits, my family and I are ready to accept the respon- sibilities of a prison in our area and the little danger it brings with it just as the five communities completely sur- rounding us have accepted their responsibilities. In fact, the responsibilities, in accepting a prison are not as great as the responsibil- ities we assumed when we "TRY THESE 6' PRE CUT UNASSEMBLED PICNIC TABLE *37.95 SAKRETE MIXES MORTAR MIX CONCRETE MIX $9 » SAND MIX St. MARY'S CEMENT PORTLAND 80 Ib. 66 Ib. MASONRY 2.20 12.00 started to allow beverages containing alcohol to be served. We don't have to be reminded of the people who have been killed and seriously injured in our town- ship because the drivers were under the influence of alcohol. My intent, of course, Objects to Having read articles in this paper supporting the building of a prison here and having attended a meeting or two on the subject, I asked the publisher if I could have some last-minute space to express my own views. His kind agreement - which was tempered by a 2 hour dead- line - was all the nicer in view of the fact that I dis- agree with his paper's posi- tion. I do not want to see a prison built in the Township of Scugog. And I am not worried about escapes; I am not much worried about the influx of 'undesirables'; I recognize that some jobs will be created and I agree that this last point is the strongest argument in favour of "Scugog Pen." Convinced p roposed Reception Centre of benefit to the area was to focus on only two of the many serious hazards we accept without question because they are so much a partof our day today routine. A more objective way of treating the fear of the un- known problems that might go along with a prison is to examine one. Two such separate visits were made to the prison at Warkworth on June 24th and 27th. The persons who went to Wark- worth found no people on the street or in stores who felt they were adversely effected (continued on page 6) prison in Scugog But I am concerned about two things: First, this beaut- iful town by the lake, which has been steadily building up its tourist business on the basis of the scenery and the boating and fishing available will become known as a prison town, and will be written about in these terms as criminals come and go from this institution. And secondly, this is one of those awful irreversible things: once that prison is. built, it's here for keeps. It may get bigger; it may get uglier; it may be converted to maximum security for long-term offenders; but it ISN'T GOING TO GO AWAY. So what are the pros and cons? The prison will create Super Summer Specials Quarts OLYMPIC STAIN SEMI TRANSPARENT AND SOLID COLOURS ators * 14° jobs, against which we must net some loss of tourist - based employment due to the *'prison town" label; and the government will make a pay- ment of about $1 per resident per month to the township. Against this is the ugly and permanent fact of a prison built in Scugog. Most of us live here for all kinds of reasons that can be translated into some com- ment on the attractiveness or productivity of the land and lakes; I believe that a large majority of us feel that in a province as huge as Ontario there could hardly be a less appropriate place to build a 180-inmate prison. Millhaven, anyone? Nigel P. Harvey. CONCRETE SLABS 12x24 - 24x24 - 24x30 - TERRACE STEPS 24x24" 1.05 ea. $2.00 ea. $2.50 ea. - 35.10 DRAMEX TEXTURE FINISH 25 |b. bag 10 Ib. bag 4.95 12.95 a LAKE SCUGOG LUMBER 235 WATER - 985-7391 = PORT PERRY y R= ed » Rp SUFTRES 3 57 FENN Asx oh & 3 PORT PERRY STAR -- Thursday, July 3. 1975 -- § es ARR EEA ET ra Kan r "> ', ama A ng KS, te SPO ad 1* "2 -- at NY NSF AG O78 SR amar 7 a " Fo "J, ~; o JER NT fo, 4 Tr a ye ARE > ve, ne 8, Eng 7, Ce TT - i EAT 00 Coy ol SAG Ss PD BE, Ko raat NT or SES Ens oe a5 CVE A Lr COT In ws 3, AL 3 EN EE REAL oe!