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4--PORT PERRY STAR, THURS. DEC. 12th, 1963 Editorial Viewpoint Caution Vital For Holiday Glee Trees and toys, two delights for children at Christ- mas, can be turned into hazards through thoughtlessness and carelessness on the part of the parents, warned the National Safety League of Canada. Parents, over-anxi- ous to please the kiddies, too frequently overlook the dangers they create. The League advises special care in decorating and lighting the Christmas tree so the happy holiday will not turn into a time of tragedy. 'Use lighting sets approved by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA)," said P. G. McLaren, general manager of NSL. "Check old sets for frayed or bare wires, always disconnect the lights before retiring or leaving the house. Keep combustible decorations away from lights, candles, fireplaces, tele- vision sets, radiators." The wise toy buyer, said NSL, will avoid toys with sharp or pointed edges. He will also avoid toys small enough to be swallowed or too large for the youngsters to handle. 'Match toys to the child's age and abilities," said Mr, McLaren. : "Extra care," he said, 'can mean extra fun and happiness at Christmas." Protection Of Rights It would be a comfortable convenient world for people with certain kinds of authority if their fellow citizens did not exercise the rights they posses as indi- viduals in. a democracy. And one way to create such a world would be to keep the citizens from knowing their rights; what they do not know, they won't use,and what they don't use will decay from lack of use. Newspapers have been attacked by a Toronto magis- trate for stressing the rights of persons who are stopped by the police. He told a man accused of impaired driy- ing, who had made a parody of sobriety tests made by the police: : ET "If you had not seen so many articles and were not so aware of your rights possibly you might- have per- formed tests that would have negated this other evidence. The papers would, without depriving the citizens of their rights, by not indicating to accused or suspected persons -ways of evading conviction be doing them a greater ser- vice." Our interpretation of this extraordinary statement is this: "By stressing the rights under law of people questioned or accused by the police, the newspapers : obstructing the courts in the job of convicting people." Which is a very strange interpretation of the law, indeed. It suggests that a person should be considered guilty until proved inneecent; that the job of the courts "is to convict, rather than to afford the accused every pro- tection under the law. This, of course, is in direct con- tradiction to our principles of justice, as expressed in our legal codes and in the rulings of innumerable judges in countless eourts. Newspapers do not define the rights of citizens to show them ways of evading conviction, but to inform them --and an informed citizenry is essential to the proper administration of justice. People are entitled to know what their rights are, and they are entitled to exercise those rights. What the magistrate apparently forgot or overlooked was that the newspapers also point out that with every right' goes a responsibility to.exercise it with common sense. Attorney-General Cass should be very interested in the magistrate's opinion. --Oshawa Times = a Pei) By the time TB makes itself felt--with fever, cough, weight loss, constant fatigue and perhaps blood-spitting --the disease may have reached a point where treatment is more difficult and will take much more time. So it's wise to get a TB checkup every year--a tuberculin skin test and, if the: test is positive, a chest x-ray--to fin TB before it gives any outward sign. : x Port Perry Star Co. Lid. Serving Port. Perry, Brooklin and Surrounding Areas WM. T HARRISON Editor P. HVIDSTEN, Publisher Member of the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Assoc. Member of the Janadian Weekly Newspaper Assoc Published every Thursday by The Port Perry Star : Co. Ltd., Port Perry, Ontario. Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for payment of postage in cash, Subscription Rates: In Canada $2.50 per yr, Elsewhere, $8.00 per yr. Single Copy T¢ L SAN ~ sh TA CLAUSIN' CAN BE | Remember When? Sugar and Spice 50 YEARS AGO Dec. 10, 1913. James Leask and Son of Greenbank have for the fourth successive time carried off the grand championship honours for the best steer of the Tor- onto Fat Stock Show. Florence McMullen, unique, of the great Belgian violinist Bernard Walthers, "Christmas Fair Concert" Friday, Dec. 19, 1913. * * * 25 YEARS AGO Dec. 8, 1938 Mr. Leonard Knauff, Green- castle, Pa., has just purchased 12 head of 'Holstein cattle from the following breeders in Ont- ario County: R. W, Hodson, Brooklin, eight; H. H. Walter, Port Perry, four. 'Mrs. Wm. McClintock has opened a delightful tourist home in Port Perry under the "name of "Cricklewood Lodge". A house warming party was held on Friday evening and many Port Perry citizens took advantage of visiting the beau- tiful tourist home. * ok x 10. YEARS AGO © Dee. 10, 1953 The 50th sary of: Mr. and Mrs, Oliver Reader, 24 Cassidy St. was cele- _brated at their home on Nov, 26th, 1953, when they received their friends and relatives dur- ing afternoon and evening, Malcolm Bailey was elected new reeve of Reach Township for 19564. Deputy-reeve was Elmer Gibson, and Councillors Howard MeMillan, Robert G. Baird, Walter C. Lynde and 'Roy Hope. "Calumet Baldwin" local race horse owned by. Mr. Beacock and driven by Mr, John Millman was successful in winning 2 firsts at Dufferin on Monday. wedding anniver- By BILL SMILEY It's late to be commenting on the assassination of President Kennedy. Most of the words associated with the act of violence --tragedy, shock, horror--have already been used. But as an average Canadian, I cannot refrain from re- marking that the people of this country seemed just as deeply affected by this moment in history as their friends across the border. y rT, ia We learned of the shoting with horrified disbelief, : Our reaction was that of a man who learns that the neighbor 'with whom he has argued over minor things, with whom he has visited, with whom he as fought against brutality and tyranny, has. been killed by a sneak thief. ; People are a pretty callous lot, and Canadians are no better than the next in this respect, but there was genuine sympathy, real grief, in this bereavement and death. Across the nation, women wept and men looked sad and sober. : TR kk _ DPve said this to tell the many American readers, and re- mind the host of Canadian readers of this column, that we are neighbors, and we are friends. : . We have more things in common, probably, than any two neighboring nations in the world. We have a common heritage of language, law and literature. We have the same basic moral values. We are both young and brash. We are both inclined to be touchy. ; : : - Think of us as brothers, - ~The- United States isthe big brother, grown up, wealthy, powerful, past rebellious nature of his youth, but still containing the lurking violence which told the old man to go to blazes, and made it stick. The older bro- ther is ready to settle down, raise a family and enjoy what his strength and hard work have created for him. : Canada is the younger brother, a little more cautious, just beginning to feel his man's strength, but just as determined to be rich and successful, just as bound he's going to take nothin' offa nobody. He, too, has cut the family ties, and is going it alone, but he is envious of his brother's big spread to the south, and he is resentful of his big brother's paternal attitude, and he is adamant that people recognize him as a person, not just a kid brother. * XxX % When somebody, else picks a fight, the brothers find them- selves on the same side, slugging it out with all they've got. When it's peaceful, they squabble with each other, as brothers have since the beginning of time. : : And the older brother is astonished at the younger bro- ther's orneriness. And the younger brother is furious at the older brother's patronizing attitude. Whatever we are---friends, neighbors, brothers---we have a relationship that is unequalled in the world. We exchange visits, gifts and citizens. We even exchange epithets. But we never exchange blows and cruelties and treachery. Perhaps that is why Canadians were staggered by the death of a man who represented the strength, decency and idealism of the United States. Perhaps that is why they were so deeply moved by the lonely courage of his wife. ig ] ~The Toronto Telegram New Service |} 0, » -\ § - "wh @