The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

4 -- PORT PERRY STAR, THURSDAY, APRIL 2nd, 1964 4 ne Editorial Viewpoint What Is A Letter To The Editor? It is not, as the phrase might imply, a letter to the gentleman who owns the local newspaper. It is, in es- sence, a letter to the public, not to an individual. It is an expression of opinion which the writer wishes to place before the public. The editor may agree with its con- tents one hundred percent--or he may disagree violently. There are good letters to the editor .. . and there are bad. There are those which vilify people. There are those which obviously can do nothing but harm. There are those which are ill-advised and poorly thought-out. And there are, of course, good ones. Whether or not the editor agrees with the letters does not have a blessed thing to do with whether or not they are good, bad or indifferent; nor should it have anything to do with whether or not he chooses to publish them. But if he publishes them, for better or worse, for negative or for positive, the editor has associated himself with them-- this is his privilege, his duty, his hazard. By merely choosing to publish them he is running the risk of having people get the idea he approves of their contents. He may not. He is simply recognizing the fact that his paper is, and should be, a clearing house for public opinion. And there are times when the editor takes a letter and tears it up. This is his privilege too. Whether or not the letter agrees with his opinions again has no bear- ing on his decision. The letter may be signed; or it may not be. What many persons do not understand, that, signed or unsigned, a "letter to the editor" is the editor's cross to bear for better or for worse. A letter to the editor which contains libelous material (and we have re- ceived some like that) will land the editor in court even though the letter was signed by someone else and the editor may have repudiated it in print. If the editor chose to publish it, he is, with the author a co-defendant in a libel case. The editor can refuse to publish a letter for several other reasons. He may not have yoom, for example. We do have mechanical limitations. He may feel that he should be paid for it--and who is to deny his right to ask for cash for his work? Or he may feel, rightly or wrongly, that the letter is misguided and can serve no good purpose and may cause vastly more grief than it is worth. i He may feel, for example, that too many persons use the pages of his newspaper solely as a substitute for real action. A problem is rarely solved only through Letters to the Editor. It can help, of course, but it is stlil only an adjunct to elbow-grease and personal contact. - In the past we have rejected letters, signed and un- signed, and we reserve this right to do so again at our discretion for any of the reasons given herein. If you feel you must write one, dear readers, go right ahead. Chances are the Star will publish it. But keep it level, logical and straight to the point. Keep personalities out of it as much as possible, keep hysteria out of it and document your case. And for heaven's sake, don't expect it to do the whole job for you. You can't get rid of a headache by reading the label on an aspirin bottle. Newspapers Underpriced David Lawrence, publisher of U.S. News and World Report, speaking to the National Press Club in Wshing- ton, states that newspapers should charge at least 25c. per copy to meet the problem of publishing economics. He said: "For a quarter or more you can get a pack of cigarettes, ride a bus or buy an ice cream soda. Yet the amount of information and interesting reading we have in newspapers is sold to the public in many cases for less than 10c. a copy. The substantial increase in subscrip- tion prices for daily and weekly newspapers will have to come. The reader will have to pay more." The Port Perry Star concurs with Mr. Lawrence, and with newsprint prices to Canadian weeklies running from 6c. to 12c. per pound, anything less than 10c. per copy is financial suicide. At the present time a yearly subscription to the Port Perry Star is $2.50, which includes mailing to out of --~town- readers.- is just bc. an issue. Over-the-counter sales and dealer outlets brings 7c.--but even with the extra 2c., this does not leave any profit margin, as the dealers are given the papers at a discount. This; on the basis of -50-copies per year 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 Canadian 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 $2.60 per yr., Elsewhere, $3.00 per yr. Single Copy 7¢ 50 YEARS AGO April 1st, 1914 Telephone extension--The lo- cal office of the Bell Telephone Co. has been granted an ap- propriation of $6500. for tele- phone extension in this district. There are many new phones to be installed. k * * 25 YEARS AGO April 6th, 1939 $15,000.00 Appropriation for Port Perry Water Front. ~The Public Works Dept., Ot-- tawa has approved appropria- tion of $15,000. for water front improvement at Port Perry. The grant is the culmination - of several years effort by the Councils of Port Perry, Reach and 'Scugog, and the Business Men's Association, Lions' Club and many private citizens, * * * --~=10-YEARS-AGO March 25th, 1954 10 cattle were rescued from the icy waters of Lake Scugog. All ten survived the ordeal of breaking through the ice and heading towards open water at the Causeway. Mr. Anson Ger- row and Mr. Hugh Hiltz vent- ured to the very edge of the ice and succeeded in placing a noose over the 'head of each enabling other men to Tykes Advance In Brampton On Saturday, March 28th the Port Perry Tyke All Stars tra- velled to Brampton via cars to enter into competition in the Brampton Novice Hockey Week. In Port Perry's first of: two animal, games with Bolton our local team won-by the score of 5 to- 3, on goals by Cochrane, Young, Williams, Cochrane and Heard, The second game ended 2 to 0 for Port Perry, with Williams and Cochrane scoring. On Thursday April 2nd the Port Perry Tykes again return to Brampton to play Watford. Remember When? Sugar and Spice | By BILL SMILEY AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS I was warned by my family not to write a column about this; however, no fearless columnist has ever been deterred by threats. I can always get a room at the YMCA for a few days, if worst comes to worst. My son Hugh is going to present a piano recital in a couple of weeks at the Conservatory, in the city. The announcement has created a flurry of excitement, alarm and despondency that will likely be unequalled until the day my daughter declares that she is going to be married. : Needless to say, the one who is excited, aladmisd and des- pondent is not I. Nor is it my daughter. Nor is it the star of the evening, himself. In fact, he is quite cool about it. So ¢ool, indeed, that he. isn't quite sure of the date, the place, the time, or how much it will cost his old man. : * * * No, it's his mother who is panicking, First of all, she de- mands to know, in the name of all that is ridiculous, how he hopes to have his pieces ready in such a short time. "It's im- possible!" she wails. "It' out of the question. You are a mutt!" : : The next minute, she's dolefully predicting that nobody will come to the recital, and that we'll be disgraced, shamed for- ever in the eyes of . .. uh... I don't know whom, exactly. We fight back, of course. Hugh goes into a vague, in- volved explanation of how he can get his pieces in shape. It has to do with turning over new leaves, letting no grass grow underfoot, nose to grindstone, shoulder to wheel and stitches in time. "Hah!" snorts his mum, "The only thing that will save your bacon is divine intervention," or something of the sort, she intimates. I step in to pour oil on the tioty waters, or tears of rage, as some call them. I assure her that the hall will be filled, the 'applause will lift the roof, the critics will proclaim a new Pad- erewski, and we'll all be proud, rich and happy ever after. "There'll be nobody there but the family," she says flatly. She hadn't even heard me. "Not a soul will come." We proceed to prove her wrong. We count up the aunts and cousins who HAVE to come. We count up the friends and students who MIGHT come, Total is about 28. f "You see?", triumphantly. "You people aren't realistic. 'We'll be a laughing stock. It's going to be a big flop. Every- body we invite will say they'd love to come, but they just can't make it that night." Bitterly. Then I have a bright idea. I'll probably have + do it when Kim is married, so I might as well give Hugh a send-off. I explain to the Old Battle Axe, It's the only way to assemble a crowd in these troubled times. She agrees, feels better, even grins, ; : * * * 3 ; ' At the bottom of the invitations we will have printed: "Refreshments afterwards at the Blank Hotel, Room So-and-So." They may not know Tschaikovsky from Khrushchev, Bee- thoven from beet soup, a Bach score from a sore back, but our friends will be there, even if they have to drive 800 miles. Won't you, chaps? ; ~=Toronto Telegram News Service