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a a -------------- Gmail PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, November 14, 1989 -- 7 THE TRAIN, WHAT TRAIN? Hate to say it, but unless the Ontario govern- ment gets involved in one way or another, the VIA passender service through our area will be history n just about 60 days. Having already announced that the VIA line from Toronto to Havelock will get the axe as of Jan- uary 15, the federal governent is not likely to back- track on that decision. Somehow, | get the feeling that the last thing in the world on the mind of federal transport minister Benoit Bouchard or Prime Minister Mu froney is the Toronto-Havelock VIA rail line that snakes its way some 160 km. through the heartland of south cen- tral Ontario. - No, sir. Mulroney and company up there in Ot- tawa have bigger fish to fry these days. And you can bet that if the federal government decides to over-tum any of its VIA decisions, it will be to save 2 ike in Quebec, or in the riding of some Cabinet nister. And when members of the local Toronto- Havelock Passengers Association had the chance November 3 for a private tete a tete at the Scugog Museum with Ontario Premier David Peterson, he didn't hold out much hope that Ontario will jump in to fill the void. The Premier was highly sympathetic to the fact the line is about to bite the dust. But being sympa- thetic is one thing, offering a concrete solution is something else again. Frankly, Peterson's hands are pretty well tied over this issue. There are after all, other VIA lines Viewpoint by John B. McClelland in Ontario due to go under January 15, and the Province would have a hard time saving one and not the others. As Peterson said after the maeting, Ontario cant jump in with money every time the federal government puts the axe to any program, rail or otherwise. The members of the local Passenger Assocai- tion were hoping at least that Mr. Peterson would take their arguments to the First Ministers Meeting and perhaps somehow convince the Feds to ex- tend the life of the service for a year or two. - The chance of that happening is zero to none. The feds don't give a hoot about this rail service. In reality, the Havelock-Toronto line should be taken over by GO Transit. It's a natural for the pro- vincial agency in the business of moving commut- ers into and out of Toronto. And glancing at a map of the area around To- ronto served by GO Transit, there is an ugly void in the northeastern part of Durham Region. A commuter service covering the 80 miles or so from Peterborough to Toronto is so logical it is lticut to figure out why GO has not already taken this over. The track is there, though there is the sticky wicket of a lease with CP Raj , the lease which ex- pires with VIA at the end of this yea r, by the way. All GO Transit would have to do is some cars on the rail, negotiate a lease with CP Rail and bingo, commuters from Peterborough east to Metro would have a way of getting into the city each day without adding to the grid-lock of the 401 and other highways. "January 15 and But if things don't start to happen in a big hur- , they never will. Once that rail service ceases on remains out of service for any length of time, getting it back on the rails is going to be very, very ditficult. GO Transit should be in the picture. The line is a commuter service, and moving commuters is GO's mandate. Some day in the not too distant fu- ture, the area along that line is going to be heavily developed, and rail service would dove-tail cleanly with that new development. In fact, it might help to speed that development along. Sadly, at this moment, there are no positive signals coming from anywhere (Ottawa or Queens Park) that a train will be running on that line after January 15, just 60 days away. IRONIC TWIST Isn't it ironic somehow that at a time when part of the eastern Europe is finally being freed from the chains of Marxism that have enslaved millions since the end of the Second World War, there are signs in the United Kingdom that people there have just about had enough of the un-bridled, capitalism- free enterprise of Margaret Thatcher. Perhaps Maggie T. who is facing a tough time at the polis in the next British elections, should re- tire now and go consulting to Iron Curtain countries - trying to establish some kind of democratic rule and a freer enterprise system. It took Thatcher about a decade to shake the UK out of the doldrums. Wonder what she could do in East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslova- kia, or even the USSR. Interesting thought, yes? Remember Letter S to the editor When? . 45 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 30, 1944 : Miss Ellen MacGregor, chief telephone operator in Port Perry was presented with a framed citation for the part she played in saving the life of Douglas Webster. Pte. Clifford Wakeford, who was formerly in the Victoria Rifles of Canada, is now in the Rgt. de la Chautier and is somewhere in Belgium. The W.M.S. of the Port Perry United Church held their an- nual missionary banquet on Thursday evening of last week. The banquet was largely attended. Mrs. Lloyd Hunter is assisting on the staff of the Port Perry Public School during the illness of Mrs. Sam Cawker. 35 YEARS AGO . Thursday, November 21, 1954 . The school valedictorian at the 1954 Commencement exer- cises was Miss Jean Samells. Dr. Donald Christie, Mrs. Christie, and Mr. and Mrs. Albert Cawker, spent a week in Chicago. The meeting of St. John's Young People's Society was held on November 28th with Muriel MacMaster presiding. The Fall Marathon Bridge, sponsored by Scugog Chapter IODE and convened by Mrs. John Murray and Mrs. Merle Let- cher was successful. High Marathon score - Mrs. H. Nasmith, 2nd Mrs. Hugh Santer. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 3, 1959 Mr. and Mrs, Charles H. Reesor of Port Perry, celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary recently. They were married in Port Perry United Church on November 3, 1934. At Manchester the nominations passed quickly. All members of the Council and School Board will remain in office as of 1959. On November 17, a delegation of four poultry specialists from the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic visited Port Perry. The object of their visit was to examine at first hand, the breeding farm of Peel's Poultry Farm Ltd. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 3, 1964 Nominations for council and school board were held on Satur- day evening, November 28th in the Township of Scugog. Reeve Victor Aldred was returned to office by acclamation and four councillors were also uncontested. These men will hold office for another year: Glen Demara; Joseph Dowson; Everett Pren- tice and John Hoult. Friday, November 27th was nomination day in Cartwright (Turn to page 8) Port Perry's racing ambassador To the Editor: If you do any amount of travell- ing at all, whether it be in other parts of Ontario, or our neighbouring provinces, perhaps even in the United States, in- variably you'll run into someone who will ask you where you're from. You most likely would come back with, "well, do you know where Toronto is?"' Let's face it we as a small community have More than a just a library To the Editor: We would like to bring to the at- tention of your readers, the con- tributions made to Scugog Township by Memorial Library. Far from be- ing merely a lending library, it serves as an integral part of the happenings in Port Perry and sur- rounding areas. Besides the programmes that are run in the facility, such as art exhibits, travel club, children's programmes and occasional public talks, the staff gets behind activities and themes, seasonal or otherwise, that are current. As a recent example, during Scugog Township's "Peace Week," Sept. 18-24, various in- stitutions were informed of and invited to participate in this week of events. The library staff responded with three beautiful displays, one in the children's department, on the theme of peace, including books, collages, posters of scheduled events, ete. Also, the library ran a video suitable to the theme for public viewing during the week. We have found the library to be a most delightful institution to the Scugog: lived a fairly sheltered existance. Not much of great significance has ever happened inside our locale. Of course we had the Figure Skating team of Anna Forder and Richard Stevens, but you must admit that was quite a while back. What has happened lately to bring any notoriety our way? Well, let's not try to sound too much like a Disney story, but, in the way the story unfolds you'd expect to see Tinker Bell turning work . with - the staff is en- thusiastic, warm and professional. Keep up the good work! The Baha'is of Scugog, Jim Lee Smile For The Day back a page on a large leather bound book entitled "Matt's Scooter Port Perry's Pacing Star." You see, a few years back Gor- don and Illa Rumpel moved east from a province called Alberta to a small farm on the outskirts of our town. They set up shop in what was to be called "OTRA FARMS." On this farm they had a horse aptly named On The Road Again, and what a horse he was. With the help of Lucan Ont., native Buddy Gilmour in the sulky, On The Road Again won more than his share of the battles at more race tracks than you -could shake a stick at. When it was decided that this great pacer would hang up his tack the Rumpels as well as their trainer, an extremely talented (Turn to page 10) "What do you mean, off duty? I never heard of an off-duty husband.*'