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"A Family Tradition for 132 Years" -- a iin The Poct Povey Stay Question of the Week... Do you have a suggestion that you think would make a good question of the week? Call us at 905-985-7383. It's been suggested the outside of the Port Perry liquor store is Beverly Doelman ugly. Do you agree, and what Yes, it should be upgrad- should be done to improve it? ed. Maybe putting glass windows on'both sides so people know there is a liquor store there and it's not just hidden behind one. grey walls. PE Bill Jones Yes, they should land- scape it. The whole place needs renovation. Of all the stores in Port Perry, it is the dumpiest looking Arylie Kinnunen It could use a lift. You can't really do much with brick, maybe paint it. It all depends on what kind of cost they want to get into. They'll probably just work with main street. what they have. Julie Renwick They should make it look more Victorian, like rest of Queen Street. It's not ~ really a top priority because it's not on the Yes, they should place plants outside to brighten it up and make it more seasonal. LETTERS To the Editor: The impacts of the Conservative government's Bill 160 and its funding formula continue to devastate classrooms in Durham. First it was the removal of 100 high school teachers from the classroom, resulting in drastic reduction in vital extra curricular programs. Now the Durham District Board has announced cutting over 100 classrooms for learning disabled students. In the words of Superintendent Bev Freedman, "We know these 'Despicable' Tory policies affecting Ontario students cuts are bad for children." As a parent I am incensed that the Harris government has spent $160 million of tax payer's money on self-serving pre-election pro- paganda, while putting the most vulnerable of our children at risk. It is despicable that Harris would spend millions of taxpayer's money on TV advertisements while at the same time cut- ting programs for special education students. Bob Almack, Blackstock Continued from page 6 In recent years, no banquet has been held. The event that is held is an awards ceremony, and is by invitation only because of space limita- tions. A number of the awards are presented by families in memory of loved ones who played, coached, or were on the Board of PPMH. Some of these people died young under tragic circumstances. I'm sure the presenters of these awards relive their sorrows eacH year, and to have the presentations drowned out by the din of Well attended, but events were a "zoo" a seemingly uncaring audience, as happened at the banquets, is' inappropriate. In closing, I encourage Alice, and others who have positive contributions to make to the orga- nization, to attend the annual meeting of PPMH scheduled for June 6. It takes a lot of work to run a minor hockey program for the young people of our community, and those who get involved deserve a lot of credit. Grant Laird Life Member, Port Perry Minor Hockey Bank building in 1929, expandin "The elegant buildings which housed the Ontario Bank and A. Ross & Sons where built "about 1888, following the tire. William Brock purchased the Ross store in 1911 and Ontario | panding his grocery business in the bank space. Today, the "decorative brickwork on top of this once magnificent building has been removed, and the arched windows and entrance to the bank have been replaced by a new storefront. Criticism of hockey dinner missed mark To the Editor: After volunteering with Port Perry Minor Hockey in differ- ent capacities for the past 13 years I feel I must respond to the letter written by Alice Schuett about the P.P.M.H. banquet. I swore that I would not write letters in the paper when someone complained about something the board does. You should be prepared for these things when in these volunteer positions but I have had enough. I would like to correct the facts from the letter first. I have been the one who orga- nizes the Awards and Appreciation Dinner (not ban- quet) to congratulate the major award winners and to say thank you to the executive and the coaches for all of their hard work. There are approximately 440 players in the system, and not over 500. The major award winners at the evening are from the house league and the rep teams. As for inviting spouses, my husband takes a lot of crap from people at the arena expressing their opinion as to what should be done. He also coaches in the system, takes many phone messages for me and is at home alone a lot because I am at a meeting or at the arena watching the majority of those hockey play- ers play. I really only have two hock- ey players of my own. I know that the other executive mem- bers and significant others are involved behind the scenes as well, so why shouldn't they be invited? I am sorry that the children that you talked to were uncom- fortable at the dinner. At least at this event they are sitting down with their parents enjoy- ing a good meal. Everyone at this event can big bucks and a actually hear and care who is getting an award. This is the type of evening that P.P.M.H. had when I first joined the executive on the Mother's Auxiliary. "We have had banquets in the past for all of the kids. They were running around the auditorium, fighting out in the hall, stuffing things down the toilets to clog them and really didn't give a D--- about the awards. Some of the par- ents drank too much and sat in the corner talking and didn't - care about the award winners either. This banquet cost P.P.M.H. lot of headaches. Parents did not even want to volunteer time to run barbecues to help feed the kids hot dogs at one of them. At the dinner the other night P.P.M.H. paid for the player's meals and we ran a 50/50 draw to help offset the cost of that. I cordially invite Alice to call the P.P.M.H. number (985- 4636) and leave her phone number so I can personally invite her to our AGM June 6 at 2 p.m. at the Community Centre. Hopefully she will join the board for next season. Unfortunately it's people like this that have caused won- derful, hard working, fair peo- ple like Larry Lee, Grant Laird and Bill Van Camp to leave the position of president of P.P.M.H. and I don't' blame them one bit because that's exactly the way I feel now. There is so much more that could be said but I have to do some minor hockey things to finish off the season and get ready for next season. It's a year round job, you know. Linda Ashton, President, P.P.M.H. You can e-mail the editor: port.perry.star @ sympatico.ca