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6 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, February 29, 2000 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" PUBLISHER................. J. Peter Hvidsten Member GENERAL MGR... Don MacLeod ocna Canadian MANAGING EDITOR... Jeff Mitchell Community (We CNA OFFICE MANAGER... Gayle Stapley " Nowspane/ ADVERTISING MGR.... Deb McEach smbe) Orita/io Communiy REPORTER... Chris Hall Newspaper Ase0o. Publications Mail Registration No. 07881 Freelance Do it pe " McCleland published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Company Limited, 188 Mary Street - Port Perry, Ontario - LIL 1B7 FAX (905) 985-3708 SUBSCRIPTION RATES E-MAIL: port.perry.star@sympatico.ca 1 Year - $37.45 (includes GST) ~~ Six Months - $19.79 (includes GST) Foreign 1 Year - $96.30 (includes GST) BUSINESS OFFICE: Judy Ashby, Kathy ADVERTISING: Ginni Todd, Cindy Jobin, Gail Morse, Heather Mack, Linda Clarke, Pam Hickey, Daryle Wright, Arlene Cheel, Robert Taylor, Richard Drew, Scott Ashby, Comackon oft ay Sr ew lonon. We reserve ha ight lo ed orohise publcason of any material submited. ADVERTISING POLICY: The pubshe i no abo fo sight change o ypographial ators at do no lessen 1h vake of an advertiser. Th publisher i hot abl hor ober ors o rns connection with any advertisement in any subsequent issue or the relund of any monies paid for the advertisement. Allcaims of eor in publication must be made by Wednesday, noon, prior 10 the next woek's publication, and, f not made, will not be Considered. No clam wil be alowod for mers tha tr be Dudley, Janet Rankin, Lesley West Janet Archer, Malcolm Lennox PRODUCTION: Trudy Empringham, Editorial Comment Speak Up Now These days, the only constant is change, as they say. So itis that we find ourselves so often pondering the future of municipal government. And it is the immediate future of Scugog and Durham we are considering, not some far-off, theoretical discussion of how things might look in 10, 20, or 50 years. The future for municipalities such as this one is now, and it's time to talk frankly about the kind of structure we'd like to see, or have it imposed upon us by a provincial government that has no patience for waste, parochialism, or dithering. Regional politicians have already begun to talk about the way in which things will be run, and you'd have to think that considering a single-tier structure for all of Durham is most realistic. Elimination of local municipal councils, no matter how important they are to residents, is the way in which the wind is blowing Witness what has occurred elsewhere in the province: Municipalities that were one day autonomous and healthy were the next participants in shotgun weddings of the province's making. Considering all of this in advance, we can only hope that last night's town hall meeting on amalgamation issues, con- vened by township council to hear your thoughts on the matter, was well-attended. Residents of Scugog need to put their thoughts forward now, rather than after a plan has been unveiled by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Because by then, it's too late. Scugog will most likely be governed in the very near future by a single-tier, region-wide government and council. It's not the scenario we'd choose, and chances are a lot of others feel the same way. The time to speak up and say so is now. WELL TM OFF TO FETCH MY ICE HUT! (0k Port VERRY STAR Port Perry Star Letter of the Week Don't Blame Harris For Mistakes To the Editor: Mr. Alex Shepherd You are wasting a lot of space blaming Mike Harris for all the mistakes and mismanagement your own government is making. Now its the boondoggle in H.R.D.C. I know its rather hard to accept the fact that your government is to blame for all the cutbacks that the health care system is having, its easier to blame Mike Harris. Didn't your government bring in thousands of immigrants and refugees every year and promptly put them on welfare and our health system? Then instead of paying 50 per cent of the cost they dumped it all on the provinces and con- tributed a measly 17 per cent of the cost. The owners and staff of Hank's Pastries, Queen St., Port Perry celebrated the in Feburary 1969, following attractive renovations to the bakery and snack bar, UR FILES : from let, Blanche Hurst, Mrs. Dejong, Alice Woodcock and Hank Dejong. X NE ; OX LAER } \ You are losing an awful lot of respect by trying to blame Mike Harris for all your problems. Mike Harris has done more for this province than the last two premiers put together. There are an awful lot of people that won't agree especially those wha took advantage of the welfare system plus a few others that have had their chain shortened using the taxpayer's money for their own benefit. If people would quit abusing their health care privi- leges and blaming Mike Harris for all their problems, it would be better for all of us. PS. Why are they blaming Jane Stewart for Pettigrew's misman- agement and then covering up for him? Just wondering. Myrtle Prentice, Port Perry ¥ N A R 3 ATR A :