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Le Re. SP AS Son PE lh - « ARTA ANI NENA ¥ vi » Ls CAR IAT Le 8 Pe RR : « A snowmobile can become a weapon Ontario is heading far its worst-ever snowmobile fatality toll this season, according to the Ontario Safety League. A dramatic increase in the number of snowmobilers drowned -- at least 16 this season compared with five for the entire 1971.72 season -- could rocket higher if people don't stop taking risks on ice. "We could get another episode of drownings when the lakes and rivers start to break up. The next 40 days will be critical," said Tom McAleese, president of the Ontario Snowmobile Distributors' Association. Figures so far this winter have shattered the optimism of police, regulating bodies and the industry who had hoped increased safety measures and advice would cut down the death toll. McAleese said OSDA had spent $17,000 this season on safety-oriented programs on radio and television, warning snowmobilers of the danger of using machines on highways and of unsafe ice conditions. OSDA, representing 22 distributors, is quick to point out that there have been only three fatalities when the machines were being used in their own environment -- snow. "There's no way snowmobiles can compete with autos,"" said McAleese. 'If people insist on using them on roads for which they were never intended there's no way we can eliminate the fatalities." Fourteen people who died up to the end of January in collisions with parked cars and moving vehicles 'really committed suicide," he said. Commenting on the 16 drownings, he said: "How can you prevent someone going out into open water when they know the machine is not intended as a boat? They know it won't float, but there's no ~ way we can stop them." More than 700,000 are using about 270,000 snowmobiles in Ontario. The three tatlaities on snow, he said, represents a pretty low percentage. "Even the 31 deaths reported to the end of January "is low, but it's too high to suit us." The 63 clubs in the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, representing about: 6,000 families, are paying attention to the education program, 'but the message isn't getting through to those who don't belong to clubs.' OSDA has asked the Province to ban snowmobiles from all main thoroughfares in its jurisdiction in a bid to cut down on collision deaths. Police are appealing for operators to check with someone with an intimate knowledge of local ice conditions before venturing on potentially hazardous ice-covered 1akes and rivers. Snowmobiling which has the highest fatality rate of any outdoor recreation activity in Ontario has accounted for at least 36 deaths already this season. : The Ontario Safety League reported 40 deaths in the 1970-71 season and 30 last winter. The majority of deaths this winter have been on ce-covered lakes and rivers and on public 'hroughfares. ~ Contributory factors in accidents 'include drinking, riding railroad tracks, travelling alone ind becoming marooned with a damage machine ind overdriving headlights --going too fast at night ind hitting unexpected objects. PORT PERRY STAR Company Limited \0 Ww, RY) Sa» % CNA : (Olin) : DLR): 0 1, & ars Serving Port Perry, Reach, Scugog and Cartwright Townships P. HVIDSTEN, Publisher-Editor WM. T. HARRISON, Plant Manager J. PETER HVIDSTEN, Advertising Manager Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Member of the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association Published every Wednesday 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 Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $6.00 per year. Elsewhere $8.50 per year. Single Copy 15¢ Wkb, Stew 2] ) Nw SC ASRAVIE NEWS BILL MILEY UGAR ano Srice To hang or not to hang There has been a good deal of unfair pressure placed on federal M.P.'s in the past months, over the question of capital punishment. Across the country, the mood seems to be that capital punishment should be reinstated and many M.P.'s who might have voted against it, on the grounds of conscience or principle, are having their arms twisted pretty hard by their constitutents. : This, despite the fact that it was to be a "free" vote, with party lines, waived. It makes it tough toenails for the M.P. who is hanging onto his seat by his fingernails. It would be a good time for someone to define the role of a Member of Parliament. Is he or she merely a delegate to carry to Ottawa the wishes of what might well be a minority of the voters in his riding? If the M.P. is merely a delegate, why pay someone $18,000 a year? Why not just send a paper-boy or a pensioner to Ottawa with the wishes of the riding? But if the M.P. is to be a representative, he should be given freedom to make his own decisions, especially when it is a matter of principle. It is my fear that some M.P.'s, puting expediency before conscience, the end before the means, will be stampeded into voting against their private convictions. I am firmly opposed to capital punishment, and I have no hesitation in saying so. I don't think that it serves as the slightest deterrent to the drunk, the drug addict, the person momentarily insane, or the paranoids who will murder for money. And statistics don't impress me. Sure, the murder rate has gone up during the five-year moratorium. But so have the rates of muggings, rapings, purse-snatchings, and wifebeatings. To be consistent, the adherents of capital punishment should be pushing for a revival of corporal punishment as a deterrent. If we're going to revive the brutish elimination of human life, let's go all the way. Let's bring back the ducking-stool for gossips. We'd need the whole of the Great Lakes for ducking, but never mind. Why not revive burning for witches? Ah, what a conflagration that would make. Kids who stole apples would be branded on the forehead with a T for "Thief," Prostitutes would be marked with a P, and if they were also pickpockets, they would read PP. Poachers would get twelve lashes and be sent to the tundra. That means I'd never see a lot of my old friends again. People caught with illegal firearms would have their trigger fingers, 'or preferably, their whole hand, lopped off. that would mean a surplus of southpaws, but one can't stand in the way of deterrents, can one? Detergents, of course, are a different matter. We can stand in the way of them, and feel a righteous glow. It makes me physically ill to hear otherwise decent people say they don't believe in hanging, but they'd have no objection to ending a human life by an overdose of heroin, if the villain were an addict, or a "nice" tranquilizer that would put him to sleep forever. Murder is murder, whether it is done by the individual or by the state, and I want no part of it. hardware chain. Norman Cafik to try and 50 YEARS AGO | Thursday, March 8, 1923 Port Perry council was seeking ways to have the waterfront cleaned up so the area could be made into a | beauty spot which would attract travellers. - A much needed heavy rainfall did much to replen- tish the empty cisterns at Myrtle. i The Woman's Christian Temporance Union made a cash donation to the fund to build a hockey rink in Port Perry. March entered like a lamb. Silk ties for men were selling for $1. each. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 4, 1948 The High School Literary Society produced a variety show which opened with the choir singing "Kentucky Babe' then proceeded ® through a gymnastics dem- onstration supervised by Stuart Lane and Howard Hall. Curly Kendall of Utica sang in the Kiwanis Music Festival at Toronto. Song of Old Wyoming starring Eddie Dean was playing in Port Perry. Navel oranges were 29 i cents a dozen, soda biscuits were 52 cents for a two pound box and soap flakes were 29 cents a package. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 6, 1958 Carnegie Bros. held a grand opening after renova- ting their store and joining a oY Donna Gikes places second in the 12 years and under piano class at the Kiwanis Music Restival in Toronto. Mr. and Mrs. Donald Ashbridge became parents of a baby boy. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Forder returned from a vacation in Florida. Pork Butt Roast was 49 cents a pound, cooked picnic - ham was 53cents a pound and ketchup was 37 cents for two 11 ounce bottles. 10 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 7, 1963 The government was plan- : ning an improved park at the ® f waterfront. The Port Perry Figure Skating Club held its fifth annual revue. | A large crowd attended a concert by the Port Perry United Church Choir under the direction of Mrs. Grace Hastings. ! -Port Perry Midgets tied in 1 the number of games won with Camp Borden in Central Ontario Midget B playoffs, but won the series on the basis of total goals scored, 11 -9. : Area Liberals nominated unseat Hon. Michael Starr in a scheduled federal election. Alec Guiness was starring in H.M.S. Defiant at a theatre in. the area. Bacon. was 69 cents a : pound, bologna was 33 cents | a pound and margarine was g 4 5 pounds for $1. i |