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You like bumper stickers? I do. And there are some very clever ones tacked to cars and trucks one sees on the roads these days. How about this one I last week: OUT OF WORK? HUNGRY? EAT YOUR IMPORT! Sort of says it all, doesn't it? People driving around in Toyotas, Nissans and BMWs should keep their mouths shut about high taxes. One reason taxes are so damn high in this country is the domestic auto industry has taken more than its share of lumps over the last few years. A lot of people once employed in the industry directly or in the "feeder" industries have seen their jobs go KAPUT and are now drawing UIC or welfare to survive. On a recent business trip to Oakville, | got to thinking about this as I watched import after import on the freeways. I'm the last person in the world to preach about where or how people should spend their money. But if all things are equal (price and value) and considering the fact the auto industry in Ontario is so crucial to the well being of the entire econ- omy, it has always been a source of amazement to me that there should even be a debate on what vehicles to buy: the ones made at home or those made thou- sands of miles away. This point will become even more heat- ed in the months to come if General Motors Corp. in Detroit decides to yank a car line out of Oshawa. That decision has not been made yet, but if it happens and several thousand good-paying jobs go down the tubes the impact will be felt everywhere. If you think the economy in this Region is touchy now, watch out if GM loses that car line. I suspect some people will say that the kind of vehicle they drive is none of my business. And they are right, of course. This is a free country. But so are Japan, Germany and even Korea. How many Chevies do you see in Tokyo or Munich? How many Fords in the streets of Seoul or Stockholm? Not too many. Hey, go to Tokyo and try to open a GM dealership. You wouldn't get past the customs guy at the airport. Loyalty to products made at home is not something Canadians (or Americans in this case) take very seriously. Would you sce a Parisian sipping Ontario wine, a Dutchman nibbling Canadian cheddar, or a Swiss taking a bite of chocolate from Quebec? Not likely. Just like you won't find too many Japancse driving Chryslers. he hs is a curious phenomenon, the way the people of most countries just support their national products without a second thought. And what they don't consume at home, they happily ship abroad where loyal Canadians are waiting cagerly to gobble up whatever rolls off the boat without bat- ting an eye. OUT OF WORK? HUNGRY? EAT YOUR IMPORT! 'Want to bet that catchy bumper sticker was made in Taiwan? On a different topic, Ribcor Holdings Inc. is in the process of seeking approval for development of 64 single family homes in the general vicinity of Victoria Street in Port Perry. Ribcor is the same company that devel- oped Victorian Village. This new develop- ment is welcome news indeed for Scugog which has suffered through a dismal con- struction slump the last few years. It will help stimulate the local economy directly, but more importantly, will be a "signal" to other developers that it's time to dust off the plans and get moving again. Likewise, the commercial development slated for the northwest corner of Highways 12 and 47, just south of Greenbank. This one calls for a gas bar, fruit and vegetable market, coffee shop, some offices and buildings with individual storage. Gino Testa is the developer and hopes 10 get building this Ti council approved the plan last week. Mr. Testa has developed extensively in Uxbridge and first unveiled this Highway 12 and 47 project three years ago. It was put on hold due to economic reasons, Now, he feels the time is right to get it moving again. This guy (and Ribcor) didn't get where he is today by making Perhaps these projects are a sign that finally, the recession is over, or at least slowing down significantly. Scugog can certainly stand any eco- nomic stimulus these days. birthday back a week or so. Not one of those "milestones" like turning 30 or 40, but significant nevertheless. My col- leagues at the Citizen slipped a birthday greeting into the classifieds. A lot of peo- ple must be reading the ads because a lot of people who wouldn't otherwise know, wished me happy birthday. To all of you, thanks. And yes, I did have a happy onc. Somebody from out of town asked me the other day, "What do you do for a liv- ing?" 1 almost replied, "I work for a newspa- per." And that's true. I do work for this newspaper. Very hard. But I don't just work for this newspaper. | also share in its ownership. So I said to the guy, "Me and two other people own a newspaper." 0o00000h, that was weird. He kind of cocked his eyebrow up and looked at me like I was cither a) the snottiest person in the world, or b) the biggest liar in the world. But maybe that was my imagina- tion... I'm still not used to the idea of own- ing a business...and it's been an entire I can't believe it's been a year. It just scems like yesterday that Valerie, John, Doug and | were talking about starting the Citizen. And now, here we are, celebrating our first anniversary. And, yes, we have plenty to celebrate. To begin with, we are to make this a newspaper worthy of our readers and our advertisers, we have been gratified'to hear many, many people tell us, "Yes. Scugog does need two points of view." We like to think of ourselves as a 'just folks' newspaper. We don't like to put on airs. None of us have a lot of money. We worry a lot. Some people say we're the 'blue-collar' paper of Scugog. I take that as a compliment. To me, it means this is a 'paper for the people', a paper people feel comfortable with; a paper people find easy and fun to read. My husband likes to say the Citizen is 'user-friendly'. Yeah, I like that too. Obviously, we're all pretty proud of the Citizen. We don't like to brag too much, but this is our anniversary, which automat- ically gives us bragging rights for just this one issue. Hey, | KNOW we're not perfect - we've definitely got a lot of room for the fact we have so much support p= § $0 many folks. People were a little suspicious of us at first, wondering if we were going to be publishing a shopper or a real news- paper, wondering when we would start charging for it (we won't); wondering if Scugog really needed two newspapers. Since then, as Citizen staff have struggled t (and that does make life interesting), but we're more than satisfied with our first year's efforts. There's just one more thing I'd like to say. Aftereur first issue, a woman wrote a letter and asked why I'm holding a cat in the picture above this column. A year later, here's my answer: Rochester, my cockatiel, wouldn't sit still for the camera. bap bi mpi spoiod. rts riser cousins, they are canoeing ors and raced Canoe Tv Tomo 24 yaar ago. Everett has headed up the food booth for the 1200 Yor the past five years and received four this year. Puay Stak on th8 lah i Wits i i bn Epi ew samant. bo ice 1 sows down & bh Bough! for his work a 8 sh the times have