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4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, December 8, 1987 Editorial Comments What Honour? Honour. The Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has a long list of meanings for this simple six letter word, one of which is a "keen sense of ethical conduct". The Honourable Member of Parliament for the riding of York-Peel apparently has not consulted his dictionary late- ly about the meaning of this word. Sinclair Stevens MP, former Minister of the Crown, has been found to have violated conflict of interest guidelines not once, not twice, not ten times, but on 14 different occa- sions during his tenure as a Minister of the Crown in the goverhment of Brian Mulroney. "These breaches of the guidelines were not drummed up by a vindictive media; they were not un-covered by Oppo- sition MP's on some kind of a witch-hunt. They were catalogued by William Parker, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario, who headed up an ex- haustive and lengthy public inquiry into the way Mr. Ste- vens conducted himself while serving as a Minister of the Crown, and inquiry, buy the way which cost the tax-payer in excess of $2 million, including $600,000 for Mr. Stevens lawyers. When the 600 page report was made public last week, Mr. Stevens reaction was that he had received a "bum rap." He said he has no intention of resigning his seat in Parliament, in fact he might even run again in the next election. And he's even suggested he may appeal the findings of Chief Justice Parker to the Federal or Supreme Court. What conclusions are average work-a-day Canadians' to draw from this sorry case? Here we have a Member of Parliament who held a key post in the Cabinet, a man making critical decisions on be- half of the Government and the people of Canada, found to be in violation of conflict guidelines 14 times. Surely this is a case where the people of Canada expect the Member to do the "honourable" thing: acept the find- ings of the Chief Justice and resign from public office. Surely this is a case where the people of Canada expect the Prime Minister to do the "honourable" thing: insist on Mr. Stevens resignation from the Party Caucus, and insist that he resign his seat as a Member of Parliament. If Mr. Stevens want to fight on a higher court level, that's his right. If he wants to seek public office at some future election that's his right and up to the voters of his rid- ing. His refusal so far to do the honourable thing; his ref- erence to the inquiry as a "circus" and a "bum rap" are mind-boggling for most average Canadians who have every right to feel cynical and dis-heartened about what is going on in this country. Port Perry STAR 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO Phone 985-7383 P.O. Box90 LOB INO (*Cna fan) cn | a J. PETER HVIDSTEN Member of the Publisher Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ad my and Ontario Community Newspaper Association vertising Ma ger Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co Ltd Port Perry Ontario J.B. McCLELLAND Editor Authorized as second class mai by the Post Otfice Department Ottawa and tor cash CATHY OLLIFFE News & Features payment of postage nn cash Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate In Canada $20 00 per year Elsewhere $60 00 per year Single Copy 50 COPYRIGHT All layout and composition of advertisements produced by the adver tising department of the Port Perry Star Company Limited are protected under copyright and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher _.. AND IF AWONE KNOWS ANY JET CAUSE WHY -.. ( C'mon, who did it? What numbskull stole all the bulbs from Judy Ray's Christmas lights? What complete idiot (or idiots, judging from the tell-tale footprints) had the audacity to ruin this beautiful display of Christmas spirit from its rightful home on Crandell Street? When Judy phoned to tell me about this ridiculous crime, I wasn't totally surprised. After all, there are a lot of ridiculous people on this earth, people who have no conscience, and worse, no brains. Judy Ray had just gone out and purchased four new strands of Christmas lights (not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination) and decorated the trees in her front yard. Not too much later, she discovered the wires plucked clean of bulbs. She may replace those bulbs -- but if she does, they'll be put up on the roof of her house, not back on the trees, where thieves might be tempted to steal them again. She'd probably love to get her hands on the meatballs who did this. And so would I. After all, stealing Christmas lights is about as low as you can possibly get, next to swiping candy from babies. I mean, what are the thieves going to do with their booty of bulbs? Are they going to put them up on their own houses? Hardly. Anybody who steals Christmas lights has less Christmas spirit than Scrooge, and would probably not be inclin- ed to share seasonal joy. So what are they going to do? Is there a black market for Christmas bulbs? Are the thieves part of a bulb ring, that ships the stolen goods to Col- ombia in exchange for drugs? ~ Really, what could these meatheads possibly do with a cache of hot bulbs? If they merely wanted to cause some rotten old-fashioned van- dalism, why didn't they simply break the bulbs? Why did they take the time and trouble, of unscrewing each little bulb? ( The whole thing sounds incredibly like a re- run of '"The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." Hey, maybe the Grinch has arrived in Port Perry. Maybe he was hidden inside St. Nick's bag of toys during the Santa Claus Parade. If it is the Grinch who stole Judy's lights, then we'd better start hiding every Christmassy thing we have. Turkeys, hams, crackers that go bang, stockings, presents, trees ---- that bad old Grinch stops at nothing when he steals Christmas. In fact, the Star might as well cancel its Christmas Lights and Gingerbread House contest Local merchants might as well forget the Door Decorating Contest. I mean, why go to all that ex- pense and trouble if the Grinch is going to steal it anyways? The only good thing about the Grinch is he repents in the end. That cute little blonde kid in Chatterbox by Cathy Olliffe MORE STUPIDITY the show melts his heart of ice and forces him to return Christmas to the village. Maybe this will happen to the Port Perry Grinch (or Grinchettes). Maybe he'll repent, and return Judy's Christmas lights. Maybe some morning Judy will wake up, look out her window, and see all the lights back in their proper places. Maybe I'll get a Cadillac for Christmas. NOT SO TENDER Good news about Tenderbuns! We're not so tender anymore! The ladies who have been taking skating lessons from pro Lisa Sirizzotti for several weeks are finally learning the basics. We're not too sure about stopping yet (I still believe boards are the most effective way of coming to a standstill), but we are getting pretty good at just skating around the rink. In fact, we're mastering the T-Push, a fancy way of starting off; the dreaded cross-cuts, an ef- fective way of going around corners; and we're even learning how to skate backwards (on pur- pose -- before, we did it very well accidentally). Honestly, I don't think we're ready for the Olympics yet, but we are able to handle public skating without looking goofy. Tomorrow (Wednesday), is our last class before Christmas, but we're raring to go again on Wednesday, January 13th, and we'll still take on brand new Tenderbuns who have never skated before. The class is a lot of fun (even if my ankles still do hurt a bit), and Lisa is extremely patient. And she hardly ever laughs at us. - Soif you're interested, just give me a call at the Star (985-7383). The more the merrier. Also, the more who sign up, the cheaper the class is -- we divide the cost of instruction and ice time equally among all Tenderbuns who show up. A couple of weeks ago, I was more comfor- table in a dentist chair than I was on ice. Now I look forward to the satisfying crunching sound of sharp blades on ice, and the feeling of absolute freedom as I glide like a bird (more like Big Bird, actually). And speaking of ice, I'm reminded of the Port Perry Minor Hockey Christmas Food Drive. Unperishable food will be collected during the period of December 11 to 19 at Scugog Arena, to be delivered to needy families in our community over the Christmas season. Held in conjunction with Operation Scugog, it's the first such drive ever organized by the Minor Hockey Association, and believe me, it's a worthy cause. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a Christmas feast ---- some are lucky just gn SYA