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mE Memories REMEMBER WHEN 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, April 28, 1976 Club Annrene was packed Friday night as friends and supporters of Matthew Dymond took part in a celebration honouring the long time area member of parliament on his retirement. Four scholar- ships were initiated in schools throughout the riding and he was presented a painting by his supporters. Scugog Township bylaw enforcement officer Bob Kenny has decided to get tough with dog owners who haven't purchased their 1976 dog tags. Currently there are over 270 dogs that have not been registered this year. Port Perry Kinsmen Club president Lorne Scanlon emerged vic- torious for the position of Deputy Governor Zone 1 at the Spring Conference held in Peterborough. Scugog Township's new arena will soon be a reality as the con- tract was signed by contractor C.D.S. and members of the arena committee. The contract came in well under the $750,000 budget with the final figure in the amount of $702,835. 60 YEARS AGO The newspaper dated April 29, 1926 was missing. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 26, 1951 The Service Club has successfully undertaken the staging of the first Port Perry Fashion Show in order to raise funds for the local community hospital. Mrs. Badour as Mistress of Ceremonies welcomed the audience and introduced the commentator, Mrs. Ronald Peel. Local stores taking part in the Fashion Show were the Elizabeth Shoppe, Port Perry Drygoods, F.W. Brock and Son. This week, a number of local people were listening to the "Break- fast Hour" one morning and heard the familiar voice of Mrs. L.R. Bentley saying hello to Bent and Joan. Mrs. Bentley, Mrs. George Holmes, Mrs. George Jackson and Mrs. David Carnegie, on a bus trip to California, hit Hollywood about the time of the broad- cast. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 28, 1961 In Port Perry yesterday, the people rejected the licencing of a public dining lounge by a large majority. Total ballots cast were 1044, or 78 per cent of 1339 eligible voters. 629 voted against and 379 for dining lounge. 36 ballots were spoiled. Port Perry Junior hockey team went down to defeat against New Hamburg in the sixth game with a score of 6-4. This made the New Hamburg team All-Ontario Junior '"D" champions with four wins, one tie and one loss. The ice in Lake Scugog made its official departure in the after- noon of Thursday, April 20. . Mr. Wm. Brock, son of Mr. and Mrs. A.W. Brock has accepted a position to teach in France. He will be teaching children of Canadian Air Force personnel at Marville, France. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 28, 1966 The finance committee of Ontario County Council headed by Ed (Sam) Oyler made a recommendation for a $400,000 grant to Port Perry Memorial Hospital at the Tuesday meeting of Council. Ed Mulholland, president of Branch 419, Royal Canadian Legion, Port Perry, represented the local branch as accredited delegate to the 21st National Convention at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Mon- treal. Myrtle Station may soon be a station in name only, Whitby Town- ship council learned Monday evening. A move is afoot to have the ~ present railway station removed. Yesterday's | PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, April 29, 1986 -- $ Letters Dear Sir: - What kind of a country is Canada when law abiding people are harass- ed by the so-called police? When mistaken identity, by the Durham Region SW.A.T. team, order elderly people out of their home, on a Sunday evening (April 6) because our visiting son from Montreal was mistaken by them, for someone they wanted in Montreal. We were made to remain outside in the freezing cold for 2% hours, on Durham 57. We were not allowed to get jackets or use the washroom. Our son was hand-cuffed and forc- ed, at gun-point, to kneel in the mud Praise for staff at hospital Dear Sir: Prior to his death on April 16, my husband, Bill Hopkins had been in Port Perry Community Hospital for twelve days. His was a particular case, as his mobility had, through chronic rheumatoid arthritis, been limited to partial use of only one arm and hand. He was therefore in All they want is an apology and dirt. manage a boarding kennel. He Our house was torn apart, without returned later and is a witness to the : A very irate person, apology. A friend came to pick up his dog June Austin and was ordered to leave. We R.R. 1, Blackstock Letters to the Editor ... our policy It has always been the policy of this newspaper to encourage our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column. Our readers have a right to freely express their helps make a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that a letter writer sign his or her name. On rare occasions, we will agree to with-hold publication of a letter writer's name, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. to the editor. to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we feel that a lively letters column Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous letter While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must continue NRA Or; or:s:mm WAN \ 0 RN AN\ek ANN 'Viewpoint by John B. McClelland Now that the CBC, Global News, CTV and various other news outlets from the big and not- so-big cities have had their kick at the rabies incident in Port Perry, I hope that this will be the last comment from myself. There has been criticism directed towards the Regional Health Unit for not acting quick- ly enough to inform residents of Port Perry about the potential dangers in this particular incident. When this issue was raised at a meeting of Regional council last week, there were assurances given that the Health Unit will be re-assessing the way it handles public informa- tion. And that is a good thing. The Health Unit learned on Friday, April 4 that the dog in question probably had rabies, and nine people began getting the vaccine. On Monday, April 7, rabies was confirmed: in the animal, and 17 people were taking the shots. At this point in this incident, I think the Health Unit should have started to take steps to inform people of what was going on. Had the Health Unit phoned this newspaper any time up to 7: :00 p.m. on that Monday, there could have been some kind of notice put in the paper in a prominent place. This paper is pro- duced on Mondays and staff here usually work until 9:00 p.m. or later on the production. A: telephone call from the Health Unit would have assured information in the paper that is printed on Tuesdays and distributed later that day. As it turned out, the Star did not learn about the incident until the middle of the week and the next publication date for the paper was April 15. By that time, more than 60 people were taking the shots. The fact that this particular dog had "dumb rabies" should have been a warning to the Health Unit that it more than likely had come in contact with a lot of people. Contacting the Star and other news outlets probably was warranted as early as possible. There would not be the same urgency if the animal had been a skunk or fox simply because the likelihood of human contact would be far less. But this dog was a domestic pet, very friendly, and even though it was apprehended out in the country, so to speak, it is reasonable and logical to assume that it had travelled - through heavily populated areas of Port Perry. Which it did, in fact. I'm not sure about the mechanics of noti- fying people about rabid animals. All cases of rabies do not require the same degree of public - information. But in this case, there were am- ple warning signs about the potential dangers. A good place for the Health Unit to start would be knowing the deadlines for all the weekly newspapers which serve the smaller communities in the Region. Also, which daily papers are distributed in certain areas of the Region. And likewise the radio and TV stations that serve the Region. Getting vital and important information to the public is a fairly simple task, if the right steps are known and taken. I'm sure the Health Unit or any other organization will find the media more than willing to co-operate when it comes to vital information. Last week at the Regional council meeting, the politician who chairs the committee having jurisdiction over the Health Unit said there have some lessons learned from this incident. Let's hope so. Let's hope the Health Unit knows that get- ting important information to the public is as close as the , Let's also hope that a lot of people now know the absolute necessity of having their pets vaccinated against rabies. Let's hope too that pet owners will keep their animals tied up and not let them roam loose. And finally, we should all be aware that a stray dog or cat, even one that is friendly and easy-going has the poten- tial to cause a lot of problems. I have three young children. Like most kids their age, they like dogs and cats. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been preaching constantly about the dangers of approaching strange animals. I hope my preaching has sunk in.