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EEE Thm PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 10, 1987 -- 5 Viewpoint by John B. McClelland GOING ON STRIKE For the first time in my life I am getting ready to go out on strike. It is a difficult decision for me, one that I have agonized over for the past few weeks. I've never been on strike before. ) My going on strike has nothing to do with the Port Perry Star. No, you won't see me carrying a picket sign up and down the sidewalk in front of Star office on Queen Street. Actually, I guess what I'm about to do is not really a strike in the true sense of the word. It's more of a boycott. Whatever, I don't want to get all hung up on seman- tics here, but what I plan to do is this. Under no circumstances whatsoever, will I attend a Blue Jays baseball game this year in Toronto. And I will not make my annual weekend trip down to la belle Province to see the Expos play, either. This is a tough decision for me because I truly en- joy baseball. There is no finer way to spend a warm summer's evening than down at the ball park watching the Jays. As for the Expos, well, I've lived and died with them~ since they made their way into the National League way back in the late 60's. But I've reached the breaking point. I'll be damn- ed if I'm going to part with one nickel of my hard-earned pay-cheque this summer to help line the pockets of a bunch of petulant, cry-baby, whining, overpaid baseball players who are only interested in seeing their fat con- "tracts get even fatter. . I've simply decided to boycott the stadiums this summer as a personal statement of disgust at the way things are going with major league baseball and the men who want shocking tubs of money to play what is essentially a little boys game. 'As a fan, my patience has been snapped. I'm sick and tired of picking up the sports section of the daily paper and reading constantly about the contract woes. I'm fed up with stories about players and lawyers, ar- bitration, holdouts, walkouts, threats-of law suits, and so on, and so on. So, I've dope what other real fans should do. 1 took "my case to arbitration, and the arbitrator (that's me) said take a season off. I'm not sure at this moment if my strike-boycott will apply to games on television, but it just might. And if it does, I will make a point to avoid all and any of the products in the commercials that sponsor the telecasts. So there. I know that one lonely fan in the wilderness is not going to change anything by staying away from the ball park or boycotting the sponsors' products, but I have to do this as a matter of principle. 2 I guess the straw that broke the back of the camel for me was the Tim Raines case. He is a player of tremendous talent, but for any number of reasons, he no longer wanted to play for the Expos. He told them so by rejecting an offer that would have paid him $4.8 MILLION (U.S.) over the next three seasons. You can draw your own conclusions. As I write this, Tom Henke of the Blue Jays is em- broiled in a major dispute over his contract. He wants a big raise this year, and based on his performance last * year, he deserves a raise. Henke made 190 grand in U S. bucks last season. He wants $400,000 to throw pitches this year. The team has offered him $291,000 plus a bonus. There's no doubt he had a good year in '86, but he's still just a relief pitcher with a single pitch: the high fast ball. Mr. Henke may very well find that American League hitters will be a lot tougher this season since they know he has but one weapon in his arsenal. Yet he < still insists on an almost double the salary of last year. "Dave Stieb is another story. He moaned and whin- . ed about the lack of a long term contract worth millions. When the Blue Jays coughed up, what did he do" He pit- ched like a minor leaguer, that's what. There are dozens of other examples of players mak- ing $500,000 even $1 million per year, who want more and then play like sand-lot duds when they get it. Enough. Enough, Enough. Let somebody else pay these guys to play baseball. They won't be getting any of my money this season. Look. 1 don't begrudge a professional baseball player the right to make an extremely comfortable liv- ing. They are not professionals, they are in the sport- entertainment business, and no doubt it's very tough to leap out of bed at the crack of noon to get ready for a night game. But I would suggest that things are bass-ackwards in baseball (and other pro sports) when it comes to con- tracts. The players should be paid a comfortable base - salary each year based on their health, their past per- formances, etc. The base salary should start at $100,000 for a raw rookie and increase to $500,000 for a Dave Mat- (Turn to page 8) Letters Capital punishment a step back Yesterday's 'Memories 70 YEARS AGO 'Wednesday, March 7, 1917 : Manchester Red Cross is holding St. Patrick's entertainment in the Town Hall. Mr. Ed Moles, Myrtle, left for Battleford in charge of a carload of horses for Mr. F W. Hodson. . Seagrave Community held a surprise party for Mr. and Mrs. A. Snyder on the eve of their departure to take up residence in Toron- to. They were presented with two wicker chairs. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 12, 1954 High winds on Sunday blew the front of Beare's garage down. Mr. Owen Cliff joined the army this week and the people of Port Perry are going to miss him. Mr. Cliff put the Boy Scout troop on its feet in Port Perry. Mr. Foster Vernon of the High School is tak- ing over leadership of the Boy Scouts. The poolroom business which has been run by William Kaufman "and his son for a number of years has been bought by Mr. Grant Jeffrey. Miss Jean Hood. Scugog. has secured office work in Toronto. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 14, 1957 The Port Perry Chamber of Commerce hold their first Annual Dinner meeting at the Scugog Hall. Guest speaker will be Mr. Harold Kenneth Hillier of the Hydro Electric Power Commission. Mary Lynn Hodgins and Bruce Taylor have won second place positions in the Lions Club Public Speaking Contest at Norwood. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 9, 1967 Ontario Provincial Police Constable David Ian Godley, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Godley, Port Perry, has recently graduated from the Ontario Provincial Police College, Toronto, after successfully completing the "Recruiting Orientation Course." John Maw. immediate past president of the Port Pert'y Legion, has been elected to the post of Zone Commander for F1. He receiv- ed an acclamation at a Zone Rally held at the Whitby Legion Hall, Sunday. March 5. } 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, March 9, 1977 : Scugog Township C il took action on a number of estate- residential-hamlet area ivision proposals, giving the green light to only the eight-unit Sadler subdivision near Williams Point. Dr. John Stewart was re-elected as the head of the local Big Brothers organization at the annual meeting held recently in the 'Board Room at Community Memorial Hospital. A photo-feature on ballooning by Port Perry Star editor John Gast earned the Star a Premier Award in the Ontario Weekly Newspapers Associations' Better Newspapers Competition. To The Editor: It saddens me to see that Allan Lawrence (M.P. Durham North- humberland) has decided to join fellow Conservative M.P. Bill Domm (Peterborough) in ad- vocating the return to capital punishment. In no way, can this be called a progressive step forward. Most certainly it is a step backward. Statistically it has been proven that capital punishment is not a deterrent to murder or any. other violent crime. Crime of any kind is a mirror of ourselves, our fears or our | Morally murder is wrong! Murder is wrong if it happens in a kitchen, the most frequent location by the way, and it is wrong if it oc- curs in a milk store, a back alley or country lane. Saying "I'm sorry" or "if only," doesn't bring back the vic- tim or comfort the family and friends of that victim. Murder is equally wrong if it is carried out in a planned, dispassionate manner, in front of witnesses using a "lethal" injection, or a headsman"s axe, or. electrical current, or guns, or guillotine or boiling oil. Murder is ~~ murder, no matter what name you choose to soften it or whomever commits the act. The "'state' is as fearful it seems, as the drug addict or the crazed family member, or the young person with a gun or a knife who needs money to keep up with society's standard of indulgent living. Mistakes are made. Oh God, how we wish that this world was able to Fairgrounds nostalgia + To The Editor: Ross Wallace's moving letter las week was most welcome because it pulls into sharp focus the profound source of the opposition to moving the fair grounds: nostalgia. The 'time is long gone when Port Perry's year pivoted around the fair; we have become anurban community, however we older ones may feel about it. We look in vain down Queen Street for an implement dealer, a machine shop, a real feed mill, a co- op. The stock of the only feed store is primarily pet food, in which I in- clude horse ration. "The fair was once vital to the area's economy, which was almost exclusively agricultural. The listing of the classes and prizes for the various entries took up most of an entire issue of the weekly paper. It often took two issues to list the prize- winners, in very Small type. It is tempting to say every member of every family in the township was in- volved A baking competition for retired gents using Royal cake-mix hardly compares. - Still, the fair is valuable and there 1s no suggestion it be abandoned. ¥ / merely moved: The depth of emo- tion this idea arouses is a remarkable demonstration of the power of nostalgia. But is a longing for a vanished time, however strong, sufficient reason to prevent 'the more sensible and appropriate vear 'round use of a piece of land" W.H. Graham Greenbank, Ontario eliminate mistakes. Death is uncor- rectable. I know. 1 wonder how, in our effort to make a "better" world, we will app- ly the most uncorrectable of punish- ment? Will our first mistake in "(Turn to page 6) Foolish gimmick Dear Editor: We were interested to see that you were not alone in your thoughts con- cerning the recent "gimmick" sent out by the Ontario Ministry of Foods. Friends of ours, Carol & Harry Helfenstein run the "'Teeswater News" and send us their paper each week. I'm enclosing their 'articles which also point ou the foolish waste of the taxpayer's money. Having recently retired from dairy farming, they are very aware of the many hardships of the Cana- dian farmer. Might not our govern- ment give assistance to the farmers, rather than wasting money on such foolishness as fortune cookies? Sincerely. Donna- McMullen, R.R. 3, Port Perry ter to the editor Letters to the Editor ... our policy It has always been the policy of this newpspaper 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 col- umn 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 % - + Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous let- While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must con- tinue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. 8