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"Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, November 27, 2001 - 7 Question of the Week... Have you taken the public? advantage of the Pat McNenly Paul Gardner lan Lee . . I've been sick, so | No. No, | have not. free flu vaccination can't take a flu shot clinics offered to right now. Willa Dick Yes, this is the first time | have had a flu shot. lan Burge It's a great thing to have... recom- mend it for every- body. Council wrong on CTC To the Editor: I am a faithful reader of The Star. | enjoy the editorials and articles about Port Perry. There is one thing that bothers me and that is why you must print articles with Marilyn Pearce's name to it. As soon as | read the article I get angry. | cannot understand her backwards way of thinking. She is going to drive one of the longest run businesses out of town. If this happens the people that lose their jobs should hold Marilyn and the rest of the council responsible. I know my letter is a bit cynical, but | cannot help feeling this way. Why is it that up until now there has been no vocal concern for the watershed by the Port Perry Metal Stamping Plant? Canadian Tire stores around the country - look at them. They are well kept stores. Nothing wrong with them. They also employ a lot of people who pay taxes. Get the pic- ture? A few years ago there was a prime piece of lakefront property allowed to be built on, but that was another face our councillors were looking out of. If I didn't have to work on Monday afternoons, | and a lot of other people would like to voice our concerns at council meetings. Maybe we can meet in our million dollar park and talk about the store problems and the pot holes in the roads and the other problems that have taken a back seat to Ms. Pearce and her followers. D. Harris, Port Perry Are we raising robots? A neighbour of mine has done something courageous, dare I say revolutionary. With four teen and nearly teen children, she had a growing problem motivating the their homework. But the teeth-clencher was being ignored in her own home. "Yould get that robot response, "Yup, I'll be right there", and you knew they were dismissing you," she said. Her nemesis was the hypnotic glow of the television screen, flickering across their tender optic nerves, bouncing off dewy young flesh flaccid on the couch. The damn thing was always on - reality TV, people forcing other people to eat bugs, Jerry Springer's venal dysfunctionals, soulless sitcoms. i So last spring Mum karate-chopped the cable service. And after the initial shock and histrionics, it was like the kids had been released from chains they never knew were there. They curled up with books, they pitched in around the house, they stretched their wings in the endless outdoors, and put more time and pride into their homework. They conversed, made eye contact, and formed independent thoughts. With one phone call, Mum did more for her childrens' educa- tion, physical well-being and life skills than any Ontario govemn- ment has ever come close to doing. Look at the anemic results of the Ontario Grade 3 and 6 reading and writing tests. Not much more than half the kids were acceptably literate. Can't be more specific than that, given the screwed-up test results. Guess someone didn't read the directions properly. Can there be any remaining doubts that our video-based cul- ture sucks the literacy out of kids and adults alike? Watching TV and computer screens is as powerfully habit-forming as booze, kids to help around the house or complete * Over the fence by Kay Langmuir weed, gambling, Internet chat rooms and other curses on the house of homo sapiens. Just try reading when your spouse is watching the box. Your eyes compulsively flit to the screen. And why would anyone make it easier for kids to overdose on the unhinged stuff that passes for entertainment these days by putting televisions in their bedrooms? Sleep experts will also tell you it's tremendously disruptive of proper rest and that TVs don't belong in any bedrooms. So if your teenager has her own set and can't get up in the moming, connect the dots here. As education tools, computers are gaining status at the expense of musty old books. Cash-hungry school boards are spending astonishing wads on computers and software, at the expense of books in school libraries. Yet there's growing research to suggest that the better the school library, the better the reading performance of students. It's one thing ta have school boards so tightly budgeted that the province rewards them for overcrowding schools (school accommodation plans), and lets parents cat-fight over the spoils (Epsom versus Uxbridge), but it's another thing entirely to send a kid to school who doesn't comprehend the value of education. A home where reading and conversation take a back seat to glowing appliances sends an ill- prepared and indifferent mind to school. Success in life no longer depends on your family lineage. Our complex world is knowledge hungry. If parents don't show their kids by example the value of education, by making time for reading and discussion in the home, they handicap them for life on multiple levels - from personal relationships to job prospects. True, you can't brag about how much RAM your favorite books have, or how fast the download of a good newspaper is. The printed word is decidedly old-fashioned, as are shoes, bread and love. But for teaching people to think and know, nothing does it better. Nothing ever will. The Council Table By Chris Hall Shortly after 8 a.m. on Friday morning, Scugog's Director of Public Works, Larry Postill, called The Star asked for public recognition for their efforts. Each of office. Fuming mad, he vented about the vandalism 50-plus volunteers were nominated for their actions. Very few, if any at all, of those honoured last week and speculated on the age group of who may have They didn't ask for those nominating them to make a responsible for the work... everything you would short speech about their efforts and, in general, just expect from a guy who had worked so hard reconfiguring wanted to continue doing their tasks in relative obscu- place to stroll. afternoon. walk. Vandals strike... again Mischief makers have never been able to turn down a good tar- get and that was proven last week just south of Port Perry. Construction crews had just certainly not help their plea of innocence. poured a long stretch of fresh concrete in hopes of cre- ating a sidewalk for the Union Avenue residents who have long called for the township to give them a safe The cool temperatures last Thursday made almost ideal conditions for pouring concrete, and, with their work complete, the crews left the site late Thursday volunteers. However, sometime between then and early Friday morning, vandals struck. Footprints and names and other drawings were forever etched into the new side- sidewalk work done this year. schedules and twisting arms in order to get the rity. These folks are the ones that are making our com- While we'll make no assumptions about the sense- munity a real community. They're the ones that make less acts, it's almost a given that some will quickly Scugog Township such a great place to live. Those point to the township's youth as the culprits. Only a honoured included the people who donate their time few months ago there was much talk and speculation freely to the local library and museum, sports organi- about local teens and their actions in the downtown zations and other groups... there are too many to list areas of Port Perry, and an act such as this will most here. Keeping with last Thursday night, there was also much celebration going on as township officials helped local groups and organizations honour their faithful It was nice to see the township continue on with a tradition that honours those so important to its well- LARA BEER REE EERE EE EEE EE EERE EEE REE EER ERE RE] being LAR AE EEE EEE EEE EEE EE EE EEE REE EEE II IIE III The annual Port Perry Christmas Parade has once again come and gone and already the public has A good crowd was on hand at the Scugog Community begun writing and calling in to The Star in an effort to the community at large. Centre on Nov. 22 when the township held its Fourth applaud those responsible for another successful Tri-Annual Volunteer Recognition Night to honour event. Large crowds came out Saturday to cheer on those who give freely over their time to lend a hand to one of the largest parades in the area, and it's nice to see the community respond with thanks.