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TE BR air % & * ¥ ge § ¥ : Re aL TE EIA SSRI ama, - NC: as mr 8 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, November 6, 1990 Centre not necessary To the Editor: On Thursday, November 1, at the S.A. Cawker Public School, | attended a presentation on the Proposed New Education Centre. The information presented by Trustee Ian Brown was to say the least, interesting, albeit one sid- ed. I was shown slides of untidy offices and exterior shots of facilities currently being used for administration purposes. Mr. Brown was not above window dressing the possible savings on meeting costs. It would appear that the proposed facility is more for wants rather than needs. It was obvious that alternatives had not been explored (at least not recently); perhaps building board. Mr. Brown indicated that the building cost would be a very small addition to household taxes. However, the cost was dependant on so many factors that I belive his estimate of the impact on tax- payers bears no relation to reality. . The final comment from a member of the public is worth repeating: if portable classrooms are not good enough for the ad- ministration, how come they are good enough for the children? At the present state of the economy, any further intrusion into the publics' income is unnecessary. Sincerely, Let ers io the editor Let's quit the bickering over music To the Editor: I feel the time has come to shed a little light on some people, (names need not be mentioned) whose finger pointing has raised some questionable reasoning to surface. It has to do with the past few letters printed in this paper explaining what is right or wrong with Heavy Metal, Rap and other forms of musical expression. Maybe these people should get out of their houses more often than they do, it surely would awaken even the heaviest of sleepers. It is a free country. People we with the region, or the other Colin L. Kemp, Nestleton know have given their lives to b They gather in large groups on the main streets of Port Perry, intimidating to many a passer-by, but what else are they to do? Finding a teenager in Port Perry who is al- ways occupied is a downright impossible task. I sympathize with the teens in this town, es- pecially when it seems everyone else is coming down on them. Their presence on the streets of this town tends to strike a chord with many resi- dents who feel they all gather to plot their next dastardly adventure. I'm not placing the blame anywhere, the fact is Port Perry is a small town, and there is only so much for the thrill-seeking teen to do. There are only a few things that can keep a teen occupied, and entertained in Scugog, they can go bowling, shoot some pool, or hang out at the arcade(which you can't do every night), or you guessed it they can hang out on the streets waiting for something to happpen. Port Perry teens tend to be getting the repu- tation they are only out to destroy and create havoc at every turn. Many residents of Scugog blame these "menaces of society" for every- thing. Contrary to the popular belief of many peo- ple, these teens do have morals, they do re- spect other people and their Sioperty. and yes they do have a conscience. Of course there is always the odd one who breaks the mold, and ou have to dig deeper to find his/her values, ut all teens should not be labelled because of one or two people's actions. Many people feel teenagers are multiplying, they are everywhere they turn. It is not that there are more teens today than in yesteryear, it is just more of them tend to stay in Port Perry on the weekend. When | was a teen, which was a few short years ago, we hung out on the streets the same way they do today, for the same reason, boredom. | wish that these residents of Port Perry who are the ones giving the teens the bad name, would stop condemning all teens in Port Perry. There are thousands of good ones out there, with a few bad seeds thrown in, but | dare you to find a place where this does not exist. My generation was in the same boat as the teens today, we also had nothing to do at times, and thus headed downtown to see everyone else who was doing absolutely nothing. Back Talk | think the one big difference between teens today and a few years ago is more of us had Sars and could head out of town on the week- end. It wasn't a good weekend unless you got mom and dad's car, packed 12 of your closest friends in it and ventured into Oshawa. Here you could do teen things. You went to McDo- nalds, took in a movie, hung out in the video ar- cades, cruised the streets of Oshawa. Not so different than the teens of today. The only difference is what we did in Oshawa, they do in Port Perry, we were a lot less visible. The best example of this is the recent epi- sodes of problems at the Latcham Centre teen dances. The "brawl" at dances was not invent- ed by Port Perry teens. When | first began high school, the thing to do on Friday evenings was to head to the Red Barn in Oshawa for teen dances. They were not just dances either, but a "free-for-all", be- tween the kids from Port Perry, Oshawa, Whit- by, Pickering, and Uxbridge. Teenagers will al- ways be the same, teens years ago act like teens do today, they just seem to be in the spot- light more lately. ) Port Perry teens are by far a lot more respon- silbe and tamer than in many other towns. Halloween night in Port Perry this year is a good example. With all the rumours persisting around this town about the pending doom once the teens were let loose on Halloween night, was exactly that... a rumour. | spent that eve- ning, with camera, and notepad in hand at Scu- gog's Hall 1 Fire Department ready to do a pho- to feature on Scugog's evil teens. What happened? Not even one opened fire hydrant. Maybe | should have spent the night in Burling- ton where trick-or-treaters shot a man in the eye with a pellet gun. | could have had some photos of what Port Perry teens don't do. You should be happy they are throwing eggs, and tomatoes, they could be throwing around a lot more dangerous weapons. It should be remembered that Port Perry has the teens who started SADD, fighting drunk driving, we have the teens who organize events to raise money for Cancer research. Port Perry teens deserve a pat, not a knife in the back for the way they conduct themselves. G Now, AND THERE'S A >» CHANGE A TABLE co \ fight for our prized freedom. Be- ing free, is to allow people to ex- press themselves in a manner that does not danger or threaten others lives, only laws are the boundaries. People are free to follow which ever religion they choose if they believe in that. Peo- ple are free to choose what to drive, eat, drink, listen to, talk about, wear what they like and cut their hair to their own liking, the list is very long and goes on. But what really surprises me is the narrow mindedness that has been demonstrated in these let- ters. I truthfully like most music types from Heavy Metal to Classic to Jazz to Country and to try and condemn one particular type musical expression is like me telling you how to work, eat, spend money etc., where would it end. Just a little off topic, religion is responsible for many lost lives, just take a look at the Middle East situations for the past 20 or so years. People in this country are free. If you walk or drive through Port Perry on any given day of the week you are sure to see some misguided souls with some total- ly outrageous haircuts. Maybe most of you people don't know what white supremacy is, or don't care to hear about it. For that matter I really can't say that I do either, but I am free and I choose that this form of expression is not for me. But people do make musical records for this type of listener, so be it. This doesn't mean I will go out and buy one of these albums, but if I wanted to I don't think anyone has the right to say you can't buy it (parents excluded). Another item that nobody wants to hear about is what is going on' in our schools. Some of our young adults in high school feel that belonging to a petty gang is tough, that intimidating other students to the point of endangering their safety is tough. Please. It is tougher to say no than yes, I am sure you all have heard stories on the yes men, does he seem like a cool dude to you? He doesn't to me. Tough to me is standing up for what you believe in and know- ing that you will most likely stand alone. Tough is accepting what is and trying to change what was. There is a very good old saying that is only too true; You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. As for my own personal views, they are not terribly exciting but if I were the P.M. for a day, I would reintroduce the death penalty for any offender regardless of age or gender. Murderers, rapists, and other acts of violence should not be tolerated. Why is it right to destroy a dog or cat whose only mistake was to be born, and not destroy a sick person who has destroyed a life or many lives around the one life. The death penalty would clear out jails and in turn we could use the jails for a place to stay for the homeless. I figure I would rather put my hard earned taxes into the homeless other than keeping the trash of society alive. Make a government lottery and make winnings payable over a period of 20 years, this would make it possible for the govern- ment to acquire some financial stability, figure this. If I won 1 million dollars that would be payable over a period of 20 years or 50 thousand dollars a year for 20 years. 1 million dollars in the bank earns approximately 10 per- cent or better per year which is 100 thousand dollars in interest, the government is paying me 50 thousand a year and they keep the other 50 thousand for themselves, sounds good to me. In ending I feel that a lot of peo- ple are misled into believing that music is all but ruining our younger generation, not so. Tur- ning a blind eye is what is basical- ly the danger. There are so many other threatening things going on, let's not just sit around and bicker about crappy music. Young adults deserve better, think about it. Jon Waite, Port Perry Editorial Comment (from page 6) distributed in the three weeks leading up to November 11 by members of the Canadian Legion Branches in every corner of the country. The lapel poppies, along with the wreaths, crosses and sprays which are placed at cenotaphs, are a tribute to the 114,000 Canadians who died in the two World Wars and the Korean War. The simple poem written more than 85 years ago by John McCrae speaks of Flanders Fields. But the message is univer- sal: in death, they have not been forgotten, the torch has been passed from failing hands; the faith has not been broken and the sacrifice has not been in vain. 1] ELLY, | BROUGHT OVER A | ALSO THOUGHT COVE BEEN 80 GENEROUS, | BELIEVE MEEL ATTHIS Fox oF BABY AND MIGHT UKE LEAS RIB. IRE hoe BROUGHT | SEG Irs SHES TCO BIB FORT MEBooikS AND TOYS AND \ BETTERTTO BNE. THANTO __ BLANKEIS + ARE 3 CONCENE! OF THESE. 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