The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 24, 1987 Letters More about capital punishment To The Editor: A former leader of your party, the late Honourable John Diefénbaker, had this to say -about capital punishment: « 'It is said that when a person is ex- A ecuted the execution is a deterrent. Well, why not hang people in ~ public?' Let people join in and see!" If we follow Mr. D's logic as you apparently do, and carry it to its most refined application, we should be telecasting execution scenes in- to grade 3 classrooms so that children at this impressive and for: mative age will be taught an aver- sion to a life-style that could lead to the ultimate penalty. Similarly, we should be showing executions in the movies, on television, on the stage and in the press. I can't believe you would advocate such a thing. Incidentally, your suggestion that execution by injection must have been very touching for those 'squeamish about hanging. You say you will vote for capital punishment because this reflects the mood of your constituents. What are you reflecting"? Revenge? A quick fix? I expect these are in the mix but underneath 1s fear. People are afraid. This is what we hear them expressing. Granted. there is too much violence going on in our society. Our problem is not just to keep murderers off the streets one way or another, but to eliminate violence itself, and eradicate the conditions that breed violence. | see no political will to tackle the roots of violence. 'What I do see is a government cut- ting back-on rehabilitation services. ~ Is your party so bankrupt that your solution is to bring back the gallows? You may argue that the ultimate justice of punishment is the em- phatic. denunciation of a crime by the community. This merely says that capital punishment is our way ~ of gobbing out spit of disapproval. Surely we can do more than disapprove! In other distortions of human ex- perience such as physical and men- tal illness, we leave no stone unturn- ed to diagnose and find a cure because an enlightened community strives to enhance the quality of life Why should we do less for anti-social behaviour? A murderer is a human being albeit guilty of a detestable act. If our society de-humanizes a person, we are reverting to practices and at- titudes our western civilization has struggled to overcome and at great cost. How can killing stop killing? Capital punishment endorses the very thing we are trying to stop; the use of violence to solve a problem" It is very discouraging to see some of our legislators making a public issue out of people's fears. 'Fear is the great deceiver which dupes society into barbaric treat- ment of those it fears. It may be significant that the spokesman for the return of the noose is a member of the party which no longer commands the con- fidence of the majority of Cana- dians. I hope you will excuse me when I wonder if this sordid subject of capital punishment is a band- wagon drawn by spavined steeds starving for political hay. - - I have to tell you I feel ashamed that my country would even con- template the savagery of the dark ages. Canada is on trial before the civilized world. Yours truly, Donald E. Tansley Port. Perry, Ontario Plowmen to try again To The Editor: "We'll try again next year!" This was the positive attitude exhibited by a disappointed but optimistic delegation from Durham Region at the annual convention of the Ontario Plowmen"s Association held recent- ly at the Constellation Hotel in Toronto. This group was represen- ting the Regional Municipality of Durham and the Durham Region, Rama and Mara Plowmen"s Association in their bid to convince the Ontario Plowmen's Association that the International Plowing Match and Farm Machinery Show should be held in Durham Region at the Robert Jibb and Neighbouring Farms at.Sundériand in 1990. Speaking for Durham wete Stewart Dicemen, Port Perry, Pro- vincial Director for the Durham Plowmen's Association; Norm Leigh, Oshawa, Manager of "Business Development for the Region of Durham; Ted Smith, Sunderland, Chairman of the Inter- national Plowing Match Steering Committee of the Durham Plowmen's Association and Gary Herrema, Uxbridge, Chairman of the Regional Municipality of Durham. ter to the editor. Letters to the Editor our policy Int hak 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 npme, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. Under no circumstances will this paper pri an anonymous let- While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must con- tinue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. Yesterday's Memories (From page 5) 10 YEARS AGO pednesday. March 23, 1977 Scugog Township Mayor Lawrence Malcolm announced that he didir't think there would be much hope for'T Puckrin and Son Ltd to get the required official plan amendment that would allow the Whitby garbage disposal company to establish a giant privately operated garbage dump at an unused gravel pit south-west of Pro spect, just north of the Whitby-Scugog boundary Scugog Township's roads department met the first day of spring atop a snow plough as a blanket of snow fell on Scugog. bringing local residents from eager optimism back to the mid-winter blues Nag | Also bidding for the 1990 Match were the Associations from Bruce County, Brant County and Lambton County and it was the decision of the Ontario Plowmen's Association that the 1990' match would be held in Brant County just north of the town of Paris. On behalf of the Durham Region, Rama and Mara Plowmen's Association, I would like to thank the following people for their sup- port and encouragement in for- mulating our presentation at the - convention: Gary Herrema and the Council of Durham Region, Norm Leigh and the Development Depart- ment of Durham Region, Mayor Allan McPhail and Brock Township Council, Mayor Jerry Taylor of Scugog, Mayor Gerri-Lynn O'Con- nor of Uxbridge, Bill Ballinger and Associates of, Uxbridge, Agricultural Representative' Ivan Bell and the O.M.A F. staff of Ux- bridge, the Jibb Family and all of their good neighbours at Sunderland and all other interested people who were able to attend the convention in our support. Thank you very much and as I said earlier, we'll try again next year. Yours truly, Ted Smith Sunderland, Ontario One Woman's View - by Chris Carlisle SEX ISHAZARDOUS? Sex and bacon are a lot alike. They can be hot and sizzling or cold and unappetizing. And you never know from one month to the next whether they're good for you. Until recently, I thought sex (having it) was a normal human function. The only danger was that old warning about being careful about who you're with if you have a heart condition. And, of course, the danger of disease for those who like to sample various wares. "And the danger of litle unplanned-for bundles nine months later. But now there's a husband and wife team from Britain who say that sex is hazardous to your health. They've been celibate for five years and claim that sex is actually bad. It's bad for blood pressure, can cause cervical cancer and can play havoc with your mental health. © Falling in love, claims Liz Hodgkinson, is a disease that burns up energy that could be used in other areas, such as creative endeavors. Besides, she says, not all that many people like it anyway and it's been given too much importance. For her and her husband, it had become a chore, so somewhere along the line, instead of trying to decide who was going to do that chore, they eliminated it altogether. "I'll take out the garbage if you do the TH and we'll skip the sex altogether." Her husband, by the way, has had to g0 on a strict vegetarian diet to control his unwanted sexual urge. It took him two to three years to adjust. Maybe it takes that long for the old "'use it or lose it" adage to be realized. In any case, the two, in promoting a book they wrote on the sub- ject, are putting forth several arguments against sex. Enough that you might stop and think about it for a few minutes. And wonder whether the poor husband has been duped. So while you're trying to be open-minded and. trying to weigh the pros and cons, and wondering whether their marriage will make it to 1988 or whether it will outlast all others and still be going strong at the turn of the century, along comes another theory from scien- tists in Philadelphia. Sex is important to a woman's health. According to Winnifred Cutler who led a study at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre, women benefit from the musky odor emanating from the male. Physical closeness, including intercourse once a week will help women gain the full benefit of the pheromones (chemical compounds acting as sex attractants) released by men. Absorption through smell or skin means an instant improvement in a woman's physiological functions. This can lead to stabilized menstrual cycles, greater fertility and a reduction of the Symptoms of menopause. Heated nights make for fewer and milder hot flashes. The scientists go so far as to suggest the production of synthetics in the form of nasal sprays to help correct certain forms of infertili- ty and make the rhythm method of birth control more reliable. It'll be: '""Not tonight dear. I've got my nasal spray." © So now we've got two views. Do we go for Hodgkinson and a reduction in stress which we know lowers the body's immune systems "and can cause illness? Or do we go for a regular monthly eycle? When your darling husband brings home champagne and roses for no reason other than he loves you, do you give him a hug and kiss or do you run to the other side of the room 'and sit down to write a thank you note? Like bacon, if you like it, enjoy it. Go crazy over it if you want to. Life is too short to be worrying over the next report which is sure to come as soon as you've made,a decision one way or the other. We don't get these urges for, nothing. If we were supposed to ex- press our love in only words, we'd have been born with pens and paper. So I say listen to your heart and your body. If you find you've got an appetite, satisfy it. If you're not hungry, don't eat. 'Chatterbox by Cathy Olliffe (From page 5) And if she does find a job, how will she ever find another man? At 40, or 50 years of age, men are generally more attractive than their female counterparts. For some reason, men look good with grey hair and wrinkles. Wrinkled, grey-haired women, on the other hand, aren't con- sidered sexy in the slightest. Why - - else do women spend fortunes on beauty creams, face-lifts, body tucks and hair colourings" Besides, even if a 50 year old woman still looks youthful, her chances of finding an unattached male at the same age are ex- tremely shim. | read somewhere once that a single woman over 40 has about as much chance of get- ting married as she does being in an airplane crash But all this speculating 1s neither here nor there. What real- ly bugs me is why married people have affairs in the first place. Don't affairs generally happen when a husband or wife suddenly finds someone else who excites . them more than their spouse? I mean, after 20 years of shar-. ing a bed with the same person, even Attilla the Hun might appear seductive. After all, everything untried, everything new is exciting. When a marriage is new, that same ex- citement prevails. Time and lack of imagination wipe away that ex- citement, opening the door to infidelity. The thing is, what happens after the divorce, when the new relationship is ten years old? I'm willing to bet the husband who left his wife in the first place finds himself in exactly the same predicament as he was in before he started the first affair. Bored Silly. Since he didn't know how to handle boredom in the first place, chances are he'll handle it the same way -- by cheating. Like I said. it all comes down to ~ Personally, I find hormones and why some people can keep themselves under con- trol, and others can't. "cheating hearts' disgusting. To those who canride out the roller-coaster ride of marriage, I give my most heart-felt respect. "Herma, I've reconsidered --| will marry you!' LE ,. a aT pn , ich