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DITORIAL PINION Something is wrong Yesterday's hero i$ today's bum. We are not sure that this phrase, usually used to describe the way the reputations of athletes rise and fall like yo yos, accurately describes what happened in two provincial by-elections last week. Just over a year ago voters in St George and Huron both gave large victory margins to the Davis Government. Last -week the same voters tried to tell Mr. Davis something, by swinging the margin in the Liberals favour. There is a lot of speculations about the reasons for public dissatisfaction with the government. Since the STAR is one of the few newspapers in Ontario that does not own a crystal ball we will not attempt finger pointing. But we do hope the conservatives at Queens Park will examine themselves, find out what's wrong, and fix it. The people are clearly unhappy. B.A. Cost is high Unemployment has failed as a mechanism to control or reduce inflation, declares the lead article in the Vanier Institute of the Family's periodical, Transition. Unemployment is expensive economically. One million unemployed cost Canadian society two billions of dollars in lost output annually. To this must be added unemployment insurance payments, social assistance payments, retraining and mobility programs. But the price in lost dignity and individual selfrespect cannot be estimated. Unemployment is a costly way to attempt to control inflation. One could also increase fixed income recipients' incomes or transfer payments to an adequate level and then automatically adjust them to cost of living increases. The economic arguments for inflation are not valid, especially in terms of the damaging personal effects of job loss, income loss, status loss. This has become a real concern for many - school teachers, well educated youth, middle-aged executives - as well as the semi-skilled workers who had long been the principal victims of unemployment. The effects of unemployment are crippling personally as well as economically. Heavy strains are imposed on families because of it. Unemployment is not working to control inflation, the Transition article states, but it is working to create an environment for persistent long-term future problems. ) ¢ PORT PERRY STAR Company Limited M0 We, S-, i (wcha ; (0m): eN "ins re 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 Assotiation Member of the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association Published every Wednesday by the Port Perry 0 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¢ Steond PAY |Nergase \ ' v ", 5 TEY Must THINK r BoA Good TB | ae We | ly BILL MILEY UGAR ano Serice What would you do? I wasn't going to go up into the attic and take them on single-handed. I was afraid to. They sounded like Genghis Khan and his boys warming up for the raping and razing of a city. There was_ nothing to do but batten down the hatches and hope that some over-zealous little black rodent did not chew through the ceiling and drop on my wife's head. That would have, as they say, torn it. This week, some random and rambling thoughts on a variety of topics. A friend and colleague died yesterday, and I'll miss him. He was a free soul, beholden to none, with a mind and a tongue that paid obeisance to no man and no theory. He was ill for a long time, but fought like a demon, and never gave an inch to encroaching death. Since I jbined this teaching staff twelve years ago, six men teachers, all in their forties and early fifties, have died. Five of them were World War II veterans. That's a pretty high attrition rate. There are only six W.W. II veterans left on the staff, including one lady and one vet of the Germany army, and we're sort of eyeing each other for signs of sudden deterioration. Guess we should make a pool, winner (last alive) take all. Don't worry, I haven't a morbid bone in my body. I've already had about thirty years more than a lot of my old mates, so life doesn't owe me a thing. Spring is more a time of birth than of death. And did we have evidence this week. Saturday morning, I often grab the chance to sleep in for an extra hour. Last Friday night the temperature went soaring up to about fifty. About four a.m., the word got around among the black squirrels in my attic that spring had arrived, and they went stark, staring, raving mad. . All winter, they'd been pretty quiet, with only the occasional Saturday night party complete with drunken fights, screaming females, bawling kids and acorns rattling around like bowling balls on concrete. But this week, they pulled all the stops. I started out of a deep sleep, shouting something about the Yanks invading Canada. My wife was cowering, head under the covers. The males were bellowing like bull moose. The females were chattering like -- well, females. The babies were shouting, in unison, "Hey, Ma. Can we go out? We don't need a coat. We've never seen spring before. What's it like?" ; And all of them running and jumping and skittering and shithering and scuttling right overhead until it sounded like midnight at the Ylunhertacks Ball. This went on tintil day-light and so did my wife's demands that T do something about it. little and I peeked out the window. There they were, goofing about in the back yard, stupidly digging in the snow for acorns, looking particularly ratty with their coats half shed. The oldtimers soon realized with disgust that it was not spring at all, and returned, up the big cedar, flying leap to the vines, scrabble up to the hole and back to the attic for a long snooze. But the little ones were baffled, bewildered and beligerent. They ran around in circles. They sank to their ears in wet snow. They chitered indignantly. They couldn't find anything to eat. Had I not heard them talking so often, I'd not have been able to undé¥stand. But I had. And I did. I distinctly heard one baby buck squirrel snarling, "What the hell goes on ere? We've been sold a bill of goods. THIS is SPRING? Where are the luscious bulbs, the green stuff, the tender shoots? We've been had, brothers. Let's demonstrate." And demonstrate they did, loudly and shrilly, or the next twelve hours, back in the attic, berating their elders. Co Can't blame them. it must have been traumatic experience out of the warm womb of the attic into the bleak reality of a March day.some of them (I hope) will be scarred for life, psychologically. , But I can't kick. They've been fairly quiet since, aside from a lot of mumbling and muttering among the young ones, convinced, like all kids, that their parents betrayéd them about life. Dang it, I've run out of space. I wanted tc mention the two baseball pitchers who have swapped not only wives but families. present some startling spring poetry, and discuss the abysmal stupidity of the Department of Education, but there's nc room. At dawn the wild ululations subsided a: 50 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 22, 1923 The Star reminded its readers that a by-law for- biding the ¢appipg of maple trees pe village of Port Perry. Directors of the Port Perry rink building were seeking a $2,000 loan to consolidate debt on the building. For the first time it became necessary for dog owners to register their animals and obtain a tag from the village clerk. Mr. and Mrs. W. E. McGregor of Port Perry had a baby girl. Mr. and Mrs. Russell Harper of Utica became parents of a new boy. . Reach council appointed councillor Macdonald as a committee of one to obtain 4 cords of wood to heat the township hall. Polo Cloth spring coats were selling for $15 each. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 18, 1948 The quick response and efficient action of the fire brigade prevented a fire at the home of Charlie Clark, Perry Street, from doing - seriofis damage. As it was . the fire was confined to the garage and a tool shed, but did not reach the house. Damage was estimated at $200. Utica Hornets travelled to Uxbridge and defeated the Uxbridge Farmers 4 - 3 in a hockey game. - Mr. and Mrs. William Beare had a son, William Charles. Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Redman of Myrtle had a little girl. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 20, 1958 It was a busy week for sports enthusiasts. Port Perry Peewees took part in a hockey tournament at Peterborough and won the first three games. A Port rink consisting of Grant Macdonald, Glen VanCamp, Arthur Cox and Dave Thompson won a two day bonspiel at Sunderland curl- ing rink. At Port Perry Arena the Brooklin Com- bines downed Aurora in hockey semi finals. Green- bank soundly defeated Brougham to win the ORHA playdown. . Members of the Prince Albert YPU enjoyed a St. Patricks Day square dance at the hall. Mr. and Mrs. Card of Epsom became parents of a new baby girl. 10 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 21, 1963 Jessie Buxcey, a farmer who was 50 years old in 1963, finished a 50 mile marathon walk from Barrie to Toronto in just under 11 hours to come third in a field of 39 competitors. Mr. Charles Williams was elected President on the Port Perry Chamber of Com- merce for the 1963 - 64 term. Lee Anne Ballard was honoured for becoming the first brownie in Port Perry to earn all available accom- plishment badges. Bud and Joan Whitaker announced the birth of a son, Paul Raymond. Bruce and Donna Mackey announced g the birth of a son, John Charles. * J ®