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4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. August 13, 1985 editorial co Who's In The Race? Surprise, amusement, even a touch of hostility. Those were some of the reactions we received last week when contacting members of Scugog council and others about their plans for the municipal elections which roll around this November. Our purpose was simple enough. We just wanted to know who is running for what seat on the local council. Sure, we know it is still just the middle of August, and a lot of people aren't giving a second thought to local elections, but there has always been a kind of tradition in this community. Election fever starts to heat up dur- ing the Port Perry Fair weekend. That's when would-be politicians usually let it be known they are seeking office in the fall elections, and the campaign politicking gets underway with a fury. The Port Perry Fair, by the way, is just two weeks away. So, we've hardly jumped the gun in running a story in this week's Star about who's running for what seat. In talking with the local councillors and others last week we discovered a couple of interesting things. The first is that there are going to be some hot contests for the seven seats on local council. The second is that several councillors appear to be hedging their bets at this time, waiting to see which way the chips fall before they make a final decision about which seat they will seek. We expect to see a few surprises on the final day for filing nomination papers. While some councillors said for the record they are going to seek re-election, they added "off the record" that they are seriously thinking of taking a shot at a dif- ferent seat on council but they don't want to show their cards at this moment. All of this is well and good. It indicates to us that already the wheels are spinning and a lot of people are doing some very serious thinking, even though the elec- tion is three months away. We believe Scugog Township is going to witness a most interesting election campaign in 1985. And help- ing to generate interest in local politics is part of the job of any community newspaper, including this one. We are often surprised and a little dismayed at the amount of public ignorance about the local political scene, how the system works, even who the councillors are and what wards they represent. On the other hand, this community, iike most others, has a large number of citizens who are very astute when it comes to local politics and elections. The advent of the three year term for council has taken a bit of the edge of interest in local politics, and this past three years, Scugog has been more or less free of any major Township-wide issue to galvanize people on one side or another. So, if people say we 'are stirring the pot' in mid- August with a story on November elections, sobe it. It's a way of generating some interest, and let's be honest, there are a lot of people keeping a close eye on the local political scene. In our travels throughout Scugog over the summer, more and more we hear the question asked "is so-and- 80 going to run again," or 'who's running for this seat or that one." The interest is there, the wheels are already spinn- ing for many. Watch for the campaign to heat up over the next few weeks. Young, Male and Single ¥ you are single, male and under 25, you might want to drop Michael Bates a card of thanks He's the 20 year old Islington man who decided to take Zurich Insurance in front of the Human Rights Con- dition on the grounds his car insurance premiums are discriminatory Now just about everyone knows that single males under 25 pay higher rates for car insurance than everybody else, always have Bates. who has been driving for four years and con- siders himself a good driver said 'wait a minute, why should | be lumped in with all the so-called lousy drivers' who are high nsks for insurance companies And the Human Rights Commission of Ontario (Turn to page 6) He) at A 5) -- -- go! < AR-- PLATTEN © R Cr PERRY ST chatterbox by John B. McClelland There is just one thing more boring than looking at slides of someone's vacation. And that's hearing all about someone else's vacation. I was on vacation for a week last month. It's not my intention to bore you with a blow-by-blow account of what I did on my summer holidays. But one observation and one incident are worth repeating here. Part of my week's holiday was spent in the city of Montreal. I took my two boys to see a couple of Expo games at the Olympic Stadium. Some people call the Big Owe ugly and cold. I always find it just the opposite: a great place to see a baseball game. Of course when compared to Exorcism Stadium on the Lakeshore in the Big Smoke, anything is an improvement. I must say that in the few days I spent in Montreal, I didn't notice that drivers in that city are any worse than Toronto, or even Oshawa for that matter. Montreal drivers, of course, have a notorious Teputar on for being the worst on the continent, just ind New York cabbies, but I found the driving fair- ly easy, even on Sherbrooke St. at the height of the even- ing rush hour. The cabbies and bus drivers act like they own the road, but that's true in any city. What really scared me are the pedestrians and cyclists. I find that in Toronto, pedestrians by and large are pretty law-abiding and orderly. They cross at the intersection and wait for the green light, and then look both ways before stepping off the curb. Not so in Montreal. They might as well not even have pedestrian lights at the intersections. Nobody obeys them. They cross against the red, the orange, often without even looking. It's almost as if they are playing a game of cat and mouse. But the ones who really scared me are those who cross in mid-block with six lanes of traffic whizzing by. They dodge the cars, sprint in front of buses and trucks, stand on the centre line with vehicles brushing by on both sides. I couple of times I came to a screeching halt ing to go, anyway. And when I did this, the guy in the car behind would lean on the horn. I swear that all the pedestrians who make a habit of dodging the traffic are the same people who ride bicycles in the city of Montreal. In a word, the cyclists are nuts Ignoring lights, they zip through intersections, cut in and out of lanes of traf- fic at high speed, turn without signalling and really scare the wits out of someone like me driving a car Like the pedestrians, the cyclists seem to enjoy flirting with to let pedestrians pass because | feared they were go- CYCLISTS AND BORDER GUARDS disaster. On Sherbrooke St. I saw one young cyclist who had just been hit by a vehicle. She was lying on the curb while people tried to comfort her. The bicycle was a twisted wreck 30 feet away. Anyway, if you venture to this most beautiful city, forget about the crazy drivers. The pedestrians and cyclists will give you heart failure. CUSTOMS After a few days in Montreal, we took a quick trip south of New York State, just to pass als Say My two boys had never been in the States, so they got a bit of a kick out of being in a "foreign country" for the first time. [t was uneventful except for the crossing at Cor- nwall to come back into Canada. I wound up proud owner of the most expensive bot- tle of rum I think I'll ever buy. Here's what happened. In Malone, New York, I decided to buy a bottle. The cost was $8.40 (U.S.) for 33 ounces. Pretty cheap, even with the exchange on the Canadian dollar. I put the bottle in the trunk and forgot all about it, until I arrived at Canadian customs on a weekday mor- ning. I had bought a pair of pyjamas too for my 'daughter at $4.50 U.S., also in the trunk. When we pulled up at the border, there wasn't another car in sight. The officer asked the usual "where are you from, how long have you been in the States." Then the question "do you have anything to declare." No, I replied, honestly not knowing that a bottle of rum is a big no-no when it comes to customs officers. The next question was "did you buy anything?" 'Yes", I foolishly replied. "Wait a minute," said the customs officer. "You just told me you have nothing to declare and now you tell me you bought something. What did you buy?" "A pair of pyjamas and a bottle of liquor," I replied, starting to think that maybe I was in trouble. "You'd better pull the car over so we can have a look," said the customs officer in a tone that said "got- cha pal." The PJ's were OK since the value was under $20, but that bottle of rum was suddenly the object of intense scrutiny. I was asked to bring it into the customs house. "You'll have to pay duty on this, sir" said another inspector What could I do but meekly say 'fine, how much' (Turn to page 6) TR .