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PORT PERRY STAR - Thursday, December 28, 1995 - 7 "A Family Tradition for 128 Years" Teachers urge review of Bill 126 To the Editor: I am writing on behalf of the 1500 members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, District 17 Dur- ham. We strongly urge the Pro- vincial legislature to carefully review the omnibus Bill 26. Our members are deeply af- fronted at the haste and appar- ent carelessness with which this Bill was tabled. As details are revealed in the press, even members of the Cabinet seem unsure of the scope of portions of the Bill. We are particularly con- cerned with the portions of the Bill which affect educators di- rectly. The Schedule Q lan- guage pertaining to the School Boards and Teachers Collective Negotiations Act is premised on the assumption that arbitrators have caused education costs to rise. In fact, since the Social Contract, Ontario is fourth of Canadian provinces in educa- tion spending per pupil. Arbi- trators do not normally play a role in the free collective bar- gaining which the Conservative Government promised would return to Ontario. This change in legislation would be an un- necessary intrusion into an his- torically effective bargaining process. The proposed amendment to Schedule M would allow munic- ipalities to dissolve or make changes to school boards. This again seems an unnecessary in- trusion into an existing process. The Sweeney Task Force, which is performing a thorough re- view of school board boundar- ies, will be making a report to the government in due time. Making legislative changes in advance of and apart from that report seems injudicious. We therefore recommend that the dissolution of local boards be re- moved from the Schedule M proposals. Many other sections of Bill 26 concern all Ontarians. The transfer of power to the Cabi- net, without full legislative and caucus debate, and without public consultation, appears to be a reduction in the degree of democracy with which this province would be governed. The specific details of the pro- posed legislation, which change the intent of the Freedom of In- 'formation and Protection of Pri- vacy Act, which allow direct taxation at the local level, which allow privatization without as- sent of the electors, are of great concern to all citizens of this: province. : We urge the members to open the doors of democracy on Bill 26, by allowing full debate on all aspects of this omnibus bill. This government should act with greater respect for the province, the taxpayers, and the democratic tradition which it was elected to serve. Pat Jermey, President, District 17 OSSTF Hospice seeks community support To the Editor: Our various levels of govern- ment are shifting the focus of health care from an institution- al base out to the community and home care programs. While there are economic reasons for this, the human cost is rarely considered. When it comes to caring for the terminally ill, the home is very often the place of choice for their continuing care and com- fort. Families may find this a particularly stressful time. Your local Hospice, Hospice Uxbridge Scugog, provides trained caregivers whose role is to support the family and their terminally-ill relative through this difficult time. This care is provided to all who ask at no cost to them or their family. During the past two years we have provided support for more than 200 individuals in the Ux- bridge, Scugog, Brock areas. The training of these caregiv- ers and the running of the Hos- . pice program requires financial support from the community. We are asking the community to support your local Hospice with a generous donation to our programs. Keith Daly, Fundraising Chair Hospice Uxbridge Scugog Scouts say "thanks" To the Editor: First Port Perry Scouts would like to thank all our valued cus- tomers for supporting our annu- al Christmas Tree Sale. We hope you enjoy your Christmas Tree. Once again we sold all our Christmas Trees giving us the necessary income that supports our Beaver, Cub, Scout and Venturer programs that ena- bles 100 boys in Port Perry the enjoyment of the Scouting Movement. Special thanks to Canadian Tire, Chic Carnegie, Lake Scu- gog Lumber, C.I.LB.C. Heinz Blum, Doug Morden, Bob Smith, Wendi Sinclair, Larry Emmerson, Kathy Karlash and all the parents that helped by phoning, hauling, setting up the lot, opening and closing, cutting, selling and cleaning up the lot. We would also like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Yours in Scouting, Ellen Greenough, First Port Perry Chairperson A CANADIAN TRADITON? | KNOW IT'S HERE SOMEWHERE: Got another addition to my list of Great Canadian Winter-Time Adventures, to go along with running out to the woodpile in boxer shorts, scraping ice off the windshield, and thawing frozen water pipes with a propane torch. Digging up the septic tank. Anybody living with a septic tank buried in the yard knows that when it's time to service it, it's time to service it. There's no putting it off. This is no big deal in the summer, when the earth beneath the sod is soft and brown and warm and yielding, and there are points of reference that will lead one unfailingly to the spot under which lies the lid. But in December, when there's already two feet of snow and the ground is frozen like granite, it's easy to become disoriented, and even fall into despair. No matter... the job was completed, and everything's flowing as it should. And | feel even more truly, through-and-through Canadian, than | did before. MY APOLOGIES: Some unfortunate copy surgery occurred last Monday, as we were preparing the final issue of the Tuesday Star before Christmas. While trying to make everything fit on one of the Rural Roots pages, | cut off the final paragraph in the column from Greenbank correspondent Shirley Lee. It's unfortunate, because that was the paragraph wherein Shirley extended her Christmas greetings to all her readers and neighbors, and wished everyone the best for 1996. It was a bad call; | apologize. HO-HO-HOOOO! ...Received this week my Christmas greetings from Durham East MPP John O'Toole, who has chosen to go with the black-and-white Queen's Park-issue cards that caused such a fuss a while back. The photo on the card is drab -- it depicts a gloomy legislature building, behind a bit of borken-down fencing and a most sad-looking horse, drawing a wagon -- so much so, that a number of MPPs refused to send it out to constituents. Inside, John has noted this is "The MPP card which caused the stir". Then there's another note: "Thank you for the kind words." JW Kind words? | thought. Kind words? ...For |, like a few other folks in the province, have been alarmed at the pace with which the government has proceeded, and have said so many, many times. Then it struck me: Ho-ho! Irony! Touche! Well done, John. ANOTHER NEW YEAR: And that brings us to this point in time, which is, of course, the threshold of another new year. Although it can be tough to be optimistic at times, what with everything that has gone on and is going on, and is bound to come back and haunt us again soon, we have to. Here's a sincere wish that all of you have the greatest of years in 1996, and that we're all around this time next year to look back, and say, "What a'year that was, eh?" TS. A Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten activities. % This night, with just a couple of days leftbefore Christmas holidays, we were in a hurry to get to the school for the twins Christmas concert. Farley, who hates being lefthome alone, saw the door to the garage open and before we knew it had darted through our legs and outinto the street. Jamie and Katie, excited to get to their concert were already in the car and ready to go when Matt Farley's Excellent Winter Adventure 8 twas apretty typical day until 11 "it" happened. After arriving home from work we sat down to a quick supper and then prepared to rush off to one of the kids many ran out into the dark just steps behind his pet. The entire episode was just a big game for Farley and no amount of coaxing or bribing with biscuits was goingto shortchange his excellent adventure. With Matt in hot pursuit on foot, Nancy and | jumped into our cars to try and head him off before he ventured too far away from the house. By the time | got to Simcoe St., Nancy had already arrived and nosed her car into a driveway. Seeing the dog bounding along the sidewalk | slid to a stop, jumped out of the truck and took up the chase. Picture this: our vehicles blocking Simcoe St. traf- fic; the twins crying in the back seatof Nancy's car because they were going to be late for their concert; Matt sobbing at the thought of his dog getting killed in traffic; neighbor Henri Smits waving his arms try- ing to block the sidewalk one way while Nancy and | tried to provide a barrier in the other direction. ' But Farley wasn't ready to give in yet! We watched helplessly as he leaped over the snowbank with his long legs and landed in the middle of traffic, narrowly being missed by on-coming cars. | swear this dog is so dumb he didn't realize he just missed death by a whisker. He just stared blankly at the cars as they honked their horns for him to get out of the way. Matt was crying and so upset | thought he was going to run into the traffic, so | escorted him across - the street to the open field on Pavlik's property, where Farley had headed. After running back and getting my truck out of the way, | wentback to where | had left Matt. By this time he was well on his way to the lake, just steps behind Farley, who was bounding happily through chest deep snow having the time of his life. He made a U-Turn after reaching the lake and began to explore some area backyards before Matt was finally able to get close enough to grab his collar. By the time | reach Matt, both he and the dog were exhausted and my chest was heaving so hard | thought | was ready for "the big one!" The event thankfully ended happily, and we were able to get to the school in time for see the twins take part in the Christmas concert.