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| _-- rn @he otf Povey Sta Question of the Week... Do you think the plaza proposals currently before council will affect downtown businesses? Do you have a suggestion that you think would make a good question of the week? Call us at 905-985-7383. James Piggott It's up to the company, it's none of our business. If IGA feels they need to move to stay competitive, then all the power to them. They need to make money 100. 2 Jean Sweetman [ feel sorry for the older people if the IGA moves. They'll be left without a grocery store nearby that they can walk to. Rebecca Downey [ don't think it'll affect them. There's enough people moving into Port Perry to create business for everyone and it'll good to get some healthy competition in town. Mary Booth Joan Scott Actually no, I don't think Yes. People who go to the so. The downtown area is IGA then go to the drug store and other local busi- nesses. Also, if IGA goes, there'll be lots of people who can't walk to get their groceries, mostly touristy so they won't lose much business if local people have to go elsewhere to do their shopping. LETTERS Plaza could affect downtown core To the Editor: My wife did her shopping in downtown Port Perry this morning. She remarked on how busy it was. Sarcastically I said, "Mostly tourists, I sup- pose." She replied that no, it was primarily local people many of whom she knew. I guess that the tourists avoid Port Perry's downtown area on Thursday mornings. It is true that Port Perry is a magnet for tourists because of its beautiful downtown area, but most of the locals enjoy them every bit as much. We still have excellent dry goods, hardware, banks and the post office downtown. It seems to me that the services offered by this suggested Simcoe St. plaza are already thriving in the downtown core. I would urge council to retain the beauty and utility of downtown Port Perry. Dr. Ralph M. Price, Port Perry Teen centre could be positive, and profitable To the Editor: . We as teenagers would like something fun to do without driving out of town. At the present time we're going out of town to see movies, rollerblade at Wheelies and shop. The shops in town are limited to adults and tourists. We would like a place for teenagers to have fun. It would help prevent loitering. It could have rollerblading, skateboarding, a little movie theatre (like Uxbridge), mini food court, dance floor, and arcade. We feel this idea would be profitable. We hope you consider our idea and maybe create it someday soon. Katie Barltrop and Heather Moore, 0 We've got more of your letters on page 8 Bi nk aS NY ) akg dy Photo of Sony # we rs REEII 'mation about the photo. Anyone know when it was taken? Give us a call at 905-985-7363, by Jeff Mitchell BEING STUPID IN A MODERN AGE Media outlets across the continent were abuzz last week with warnings from a major petroleum company about the danger of using your cell phone while filling the car up with gas. The moguls took a break from price gouging for a moment to inform us, in all seriousness, that they fear tiny sparks might be generated by the phones which could ignite gas fumes, which could cause an explosion, killing the phone user, other motorists in the vicinity, the poor mook who earns minimum wage to sit behind bullet-proof glass collecting your money, pedestrians, nearby residents, and God only knows who else. Bad for the paint job, too. Ridiculous as it sounds, they were covering themselves, | suppose. One can just imagine the relatives of the guy whose phone explodes and takes out an entire block stampeding down to the law offices of Screwem, Dewey, Ever after an appropriate period of mourning -- say, three days -- to launch a quadrillion-dollar law suit against the petroleum company, the phone company, the auto maker, and whatever other entities might fall under the gaze of their solicitor's jaundiced eye. Such is the litigious age in which we live. Rather than take responsibility for our own clumsiness, stupidity and foolishness, we seek to extract large sums of money from others ds a means of easing our pain, and perhaps embarrassment. Fall face-down after drinking 12 martinis and lose your front teeth? Sue the municipality, the bar, the bartender, and, while you're at it, the makers of the gin. Why not? See, someone should have told you after your eleventh drink that you may be putting yourself in peril. Yeah. If no one tells you, how are you gonna know? | Take cell phones. They don't come with nearly enough warn- ings. They ought to have a manual 700 pages long, warning you against situations in which it's not a good idea to use the phone. In the theatre. People hate boneheads who chat on the phone during movies. On the golf course. Your phone goes off in the middle of your buddy's backswing? Ouch! While making love to your wife: "Yeah, Murray? Yeah, hi, Bob here. Oh, fine. Yep. Yep. Uh -- hang on Murray... What's that, honey? Ooooogh! Oooh! What did you do that for? Oooh! How'm | ever gonna get my phone back?". In fact, we all should be issued a stern warning -- in print, of course -- upon being born: "Being an obnoxious, thoughtless, insensitive boob could cause distress to others, and result in physical harm to the user." That ought to pretty much absolve the makers of any products we'll find ourselves using throughout our lives from the harm we visit upon ourselves, you'd think. Or at least give them a fighting chance. 3 }