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4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, October 20, 1987 Editorial Comments Food For Thought You need a licence to do a lot of things these days. Like drive a car, fly a plane, own a gun, sell booze in a restaurant, even to go fishing in Ontario. If you plan to adopt a child, you don't need a licence exactly, but Children's Aid will certainly put the adoptive parents through the hoop before giving the O.K. A licence, granted by the Government or an agency of the Government is essentially a test of a person's competence. Fail the test or mess up in some way, shape or form, and bingo, no more licence. How about a licence to parent a child? Now that's food for thought. The mere mention of the idea that a licence should be required - 10 bring a child into this world conjures up all kinds of images of 1984 and Orwellian Big Brothers poking and prodding in what is the most private and personal aspect of human relations. The idea of a parental licence is not exactly novel, and Marvin Glass, a 44 year old philosophy professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, thinks a state-run licencing scheme for natural parents might just go a long way to reducing the horrific number of cases of child abuse. Prof. Glass just didn't dream this idea up yesterday. He's been an advocate of this kind of scheme for some 15 years. And the reason? Glass points to figures which show that in North America each year, some 2.5 million children are beaten and bat- tered by their natural parents. Millions more are subjected to physchological battering. He contends that while society is capable of going to great lengths to protect a child AFTER the abuse has taken place, nothing is done by society before the fact. : His 'preventative medicine' plan of compulsory licencing of would-be natural parents include interviews, psychological tests, references, and educational courses in parenting. Glass says this is nothing more than an extension of what is now required of parents wishing to adopt a child. He claims that statistical evidence suggests that adoptive parents are five times less likely to abuse and batter their children than natural parents, and he thinks the extensive screening process prior to adop- tion is one major reason. Nobody, he says, objects to the criteria set by adoptive agen- cies, why should there be any objection to an extension of this criteria to would-be natural parents. He admits that any licencing scheme is far from perfect, and should this ever come to pass, he says it would take a small army of bureaucrats to run it. While some social welfare people think the idea is "way premature' for a society like Canada, others agree with Glass that there has to be some kind of screening process to help weed out the potential child abusers before they bring kids into this world. When it comes to enforcement, Glass says simply that if a cou- ple is found to have had a child without taking the testing and screen- ing, that child could be taken away until the parents are tested. And he suggests that.adults who ignore the law in this respect be sub- jected to heavy fines. Glass is serious about his parental licencing idea. In fact, he { hopes the time is not too far off when a national organization will be formed to put the pieces in place. He merely points to the horror stories of child abuse and says parenting is the only profession in the world which requires no licen- cing, yet it involves great potential harm to others ---- children. Is Canada ready for something like this? Who knows. Some say yes, some would most strenuously say no. Let us just conclude that for the time being anyway, the idea is food for thought, serious thought. Port Perry (QL A STAR fe | 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO : Phone 985-7383 PO Box90 LOB INO J PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager Member of the ynadian Community Newspaper Associat tv Newspaper Asso Tuesday Hy hie Dart Pee JB McCLELLAND Editor CATHY OLLIFFE News & Features Subscription Rate In Canada $20 00 per year Elsewhere $60 00 per year Singh "apy 50 COPYRIGHT All layout and ising department of the Port Perry Star Company Limon © 0 Oe ted fer coy ind may nO! be reproduced without the written per missy CM POSTION OF advert Chatterbox by Cathy Olliffe THE MECHANIC ['ve never met anyone quite like Willie. I suspect he's bowled me off my feet. I told my husband if I wasn't married, I'd be tempted to throw myself at him. Or at least, throw my car at him. Because Willie, I believe, would appreciate my car more than he would me. He must sincerely love the automobile. Why else would he be so devoted to their good health? Why else would he call his business **Willie's Car Care' instead of maybe, Willie's Automotive, or maybe, Willie's Garage" The first time I met this dark-haired man, he was giving my future husband heck. To put it mildly. Doug had just purchased a 1984 Jetta diese! from Willie, a few months prior to this incident, and was on his way home from Oshawa when the car "died." Raging because his new car had kicked the bucket, he called Willie from a nearby phone. and arranged to have it towed to Willie's Myrtle area garage. Bristhng with righteous indignation. he tair- ly stomped all the way from Raglan to Myrtle, ful- ly prepared to blast Willie away for selling him an inferior car. : However, the tables were soon turned when Willie looked inside the Jetta and discovered two things: 1) The car had not died. 2) The car was out of fuel This might have been only shghtly embar rassing if it wasn't for the fact that diesels should never, never run out of fuel. Once empty. the car: must be taken to a garage. the lines must be bled vor something like that) and all manner of things must be done in order to get the car running again Wilhe. who likes to see all cars. especially the ones he formerly owned, handled like babies by their owners. was mortified Without further adieu, he walked up one side of Doug and down the other. tongue lashing him all the way for being so stupid, as to run out of fuel I pretty well had to slide Doug off the sidewalk with an egg-hfter after Wilhe was fimished telling him off I've seen Wilhie twice since then. and each time he's been busy telling someone off Once 1 was one ot his mechames. who did something that wasn't quite up to perfection Another time it was a salesman from Mercedes Benz. who had sent him a wrong part and received an earful in return Wilhe. you see. won't stand for anything that 1s less than pertect He demandsait from the cars he sells. from the vehicles he repairs, trom his staff. and from himself When we had the Jetta in for repairs last week, for example, he transformed a car in dire need of major work, into. virtually, a new car What s more, he did it wivin a set budget We told him how much we could afford, and he did what we asked, and more, within that limit. I was totally surprised. After all, I'm more familiar with Lada dealerships (I used to own a Lada, don't ask me why), and was forever pay- ing mega-bucks for what seemed like minor repairs. Everything I ever had done seemed to cost $400, no matter what it was. You know how you feel about car repairs. Sometimes you can't help but feel you're getting ripped off. This time, with Willie, I felt like WE were rip- ping HIM off. It seemed too easy. He fixed absolutely everything on our car, more than what we asked, and charged us just what he said he would (give or take $25). What's more, he did it in one day. How many times have you been without your car for a week or more? He just seems so doggone honest. So hard- working. So dedicated to the fine art of repairing automobiles. And when he sells a car, as he says, it is "perfect." The engine is perfect, the paint job is perfect ---- he doesn't let anything go out of his shop without it looking brand new. : Of course, all this work has taken its toll on Willie. He told us he was tired, and needed help. We were aghast when we heard this. After Just discovering his excellent work, we don't want to lose him. Infact, I shouldn't even be writing about him, because I sure don't want to see a line- up of new customers waiting at his doorstep. So let me just clarify the situation, right now. Wilhe only fixes Volkswagens and Mercedes-Benz. ! you don't own one of the above, you're out of uck. : Thank goodness. We want to keep Willie all to ourselves. LEARN TO SKATE Are you like me? Are you an adult who doesn't know how to skate? How to start? How to stop' How to glide across an ice surface without fall Ing on vour face? It you don't know the basics of skating. and have some free time on Wednesday mornings. you might be interested in signing up with our Tender buns Skating Club -- for adult beginners only After a false start last Wednesday, we're gearing up for our first lesson, tomorrow, Wednes day. October 21 at Scugog Memorial Arena from Yam tol10 am. Skating pro Lisa Sirizzotti of Oshawa has been hired on to teach the basics (nothing fancy). and she charges $24 an hour. Her fee will be divided (Turn to page 8)