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TTHHhhhhh._hheym-"e"e;e;em. wadtih. die ana a ame ie Ll ade Ades: «iPad PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, December 16, 1986 -- 5 McClelland Viewpoint by John B. Regular readers of this column know there are a few things that really get my goat. People who use the word "blurb' wh n referring to a story, article, or information item i the paper. Courier drivers who insist on double and triple park- ing smack in the middle of Queen Street. (iad, it's tough enough driving along Port Perry's Queen Street without having to finesse your way around a courier van while the driver unloads 86 packages from some local store. My latest pet peeve is canned music. Everywhere you go these days, you hear canned music. Elevators, banks, offices, waiting rooms, shop- ping malls. There doesn't seem to be any place.to escape the sounds of music. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against music. In fact, I even listen to music once in a while at home on the radio, usually late at night when the house is quiet. Music can be most pleasurable at the right place and right time. There are some businesses that even have canned music hooked up to their phone systems. "Hello, may I speak to Mr. so-and-so?"' "One moment, please." (Click) Suddenly, the Ink Spots are singing in your ear. Or Percy Faith and his orchestra are playing "Theme From A Summer Place." It's annoying. It's irritating. But what I'd really like to know is who actually picks these tapes and why do they all sound the same? When I make a business call, I want to talk business. I don't mind waiting 30 seconds, a minute, even longer before my call goes through. But I hate that canned music playing in my ear while I'm waiting. Why is it that the people who design offices, waiting rooms, phone systems seem to think that the world wants canned music all the time? I'm sure there are a lot of people who would truly welcome a few moments silence while they wait for a call to go through, or the elevator to reach the 20th floor, or the dentist to finish with the drill. I know I certainly would. If I want to hear music, I'll turn on the damn radio, or buy a ticket to a concert, or borrow my kids stereo, strap on the head-phones and turn the volume up to "nine." I've come to the conclusion that canned music is a blight on mankind. My worst nightmare (one that keeps repeating itself) is being stuck in an elevator on the 46th floor of some office tower. The elevator doesn't work, the lights are out, I'm all alone, but the canned music just keeps getting louder and louder. Canned music, like double parking courier drivers, should be canned. FREE ENTERPRISE Mandatory drug testing is becoming one of the issues of the 1980's. More and more companies and organizataions are hopping on the bandwagon to de- mand that their employees submit samples from time to time to be tested for illegal drugs. And now some enterprising free-enterpriser in the free-enterprise state of Texas (where only the tough sur- vive) has come up with a nifty little scheme to make a buck or two on the side. - : This guy is actually marketing little bags of p-p which he guarantees are totally and completely free of any illegal drugs. Like I said, this guy is enterprising. He won't say where he gets the drug-free stuff, but he guarantees it completely clean. The guy has already sold a couple of hundred bags of the stuff at $70 a shot and is working on a way to freeze-dry it for indefinite storage in the kitchen fridge. So, if the place where you work comes up with a mandatory drugs testing scheme, fear not. You can pop or snort or shoot whatever you like and when your times arrive for the test, just reach in your pocket and hand them a vial of the purest, cleanest p--- ever produced in the glorious state of Texas. : And who said free enterprise is dead. Not in Texas, it ain't. HOPEFULLY, SOON Yes, there will be a skating rink on the old lawn bowling green on Queen Street, this winter. A lot of people have been asking me when. My answer is when the weather turns cold and (hopefully) stays cold. I understand the long range forecast in this part of the woods calls for unsettled weather right up to Christmas and then colder than average for the rest of the winter. I hope that the rink can be ready some time between Christmas and New Years. The Township has agreed to allow the Fire Department to use one of the pumpers for the initial flooding, so that will be a great help. : Anyone who wants to volunteer to help with this pro- . ject can give me a call any day at the Star office 985-7383. Yesterday's Mlemories 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 16, 1926 Mrs. C. A. Rundle of Port Perry offers for sale the business con- ducted by the late Charles A. Rundle of Farm Machinery and Hardware. - Mrs. Lundy secured a wide range of stations on her DeForest- Crossley radio on Tuesday night between 12 and 2 a.m., hearing from K.G.0., Queen's Hotel, Oakland, California; K.P.O. San Francisco; C.K.Y., Winnipeg; C.N.R.V., Vancouver. Brock. Bros. & Co. are offering best quality, heavily napped Shaker Blankets of good heavy cotton at $2.59 per pair. Mr. and Mrs. John Short have moved into their new home in the village of Seagrave, purchased from Mr. Frank Heatlie. Christmas trees for sale, 50 cents each from C.H. Kellett. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 13, 1951 Five men forced entry into the apartment of Canadian Bank of Commerce Manager, Mr. Helm, on Saturday. After tieing up Mr. Helm, his wife and son, and care-taker Mr. T. Asher, the robbers attempted to blow up the bank safe but were frightened off by the ringing of the phone. Congratulations to Mr. C.A. Glass, for some years as employee of the Port Perry Creamery Branch of the Silverwood Creamery, who was recently notified by mail that he won a second group prize in the butter competition at this year's Canadian National Exhibition. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 14, 1961 The 7th and 8th grade students at Port Perry Public School turned in a cheque for $158.30 to the Ball Park Floodlight Fund. This money was the receipts from the film, "The Absent 'Minded Professor,' shown at the school, Saturday. Mrs. Marianne Gillan was elected deputy-reeve of the Village of Sutton in a very close three candidate race on Monday, the first woman to hold this position. : Santa arrived in Port Perry this year by helicopter, then pro- ceeded to the arena by car where he handed out 1400 bags of andy to the delighted children. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 15, 1966 The only new member on the Port Perry Council after 1966 elec- tions was Philip Orde, a Port Perry businessman, Reeve J.J. Gib- son and deputy-reeve Bruce Beare were both acclaimed. Robert Ken- ny and Irving Boyd make up the remaining council. The Port Perry Lions Club increased membership by three recently. The new members are Dorian (Pete) Butt, Wm. S. Brad- ford, and Ken Goreski. 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, December 15, 1976 Howard Hall failed Monday night to get Scugog Township Council to endorse the staging of a recount. Mr. Hall won 1895 out of 4227 votes, in the municipal elections eight behind Vernon Asselstine, who won the seat for Area Councillor at Large. Donald Grant, 18, from Brooklin, will be the room-mate of Prince Andrew while Queen Elizabeth's son attends Lakefield College near Peterborough beginning January 6. Letters New school location is crucial To The Editor: No recent issue has so captured the interest of this community or challenged the ability of our elected representatives more - than that related to the construction of a new school. "I liken this situation to that of a parent raising a child. After you have offered the child the world, and Attack on farmers To The Editor: As a progeny of the agrarian system which no longer seems im- portant in this country, I would like to voice a dissenting opinion, to what seems to me to be another attempt to slam farmers and their institutions. You people should be proud that what little rural voice is left to farmers, has been sounded loud and clear over the 'Fair Board Fiasco." The so-called "eyesore'" which 1 work beside everyday, has, and hopefully will continue to be, one of the few historical meeting places left in Ontario for agriculturalists to show off the fruits of their labour. Uxbridge has turned its fair site in- to an open forum for every new 'mechanized dandruff that ur- banites, with so much free time at their disposal demand. The Durham Board of Education Santa's challenge To The Editor: Thursday morning shortly after 9:15 a.m. (concerning the item) "Community Care urgently needs money," in last week's Port Perry Star. Santa Claus walked into (with "Bells Ringing') the office of Elizabeth Fulford and presented her with a cheque for (A Christmas Mystery) only Santa Claus knows. Santa's letter read as follows: December 25, 1986 (Turn to page 6) in all its infinite wisdom and dubious intelligence is quite willing to close down rural schools, bus students from 30 miles away to a central location, and then cry the blues because their "optimum site" has already been utilized for a tradi- tional and valuable purpose. I dare say if York County School Board wanted to expropriate the middle of Canada's Wonderland for a school, the irrationality of it would be front page news. It is all well and good for the school board and the town-dweller to accuse the farming community of thwarting "progress" but I wonder what kind of 'progress' we are headed for when one institution deems it necessary to decline war on the very people who feed it. Yours truly, R.C. Rolston Erinmore Springs Beaver Road R.R. 3, Uxbridge Twp. tried unsuccessfully to talk common sense, it is then time, in the best in- terests of the child and family as a whole, for the parent to take strong corrective action. For the purpose of clarifying the above paragraph let us assume there are 22 children. g To our elected representatives in local Municipal government, show us, the electorate, that you do in fact have the strong qualities of a cons- cientious parent. Now our elected representatives, upon bowing to the fair board, are proposing that our children should cross Lilla St. (to the Brook's farm site) or cross Reg. Road 8 (to the Arena site), these being another two of the most heavily travelled roads in the township. Perhaps councillors, the new schools should be located on the south side of Hwy. 401. This would be the ultimate test of our children's ability to manoeuvre through heavy traffic. A great deal of effort was extend- ed by professional people in choos- ing the ideal location for a new school. Mr. Mayor, that location is the fair grounds, now let's get on with the job. Respectfully, Roy Dixon Port Perry 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 opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we feel that a lively letters column helps make a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that a letter writer sign his or her name. On rare occasions, we wili agree to with-hold publication of a letter writer's name, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous letter to the editor. While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must continue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. A a --------------,