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Co SR SN = ae SEE What is a cop? The following was written by a policeman in New York City. Cops are Human (believe it or not) just like the rest of us. They come in bath sexes but mostly male. They also come in various sizes. This sometimes depends on whether you are looking for one or trying to hide something. However, they are mostly big. Cops are found everywhere - on land, on the sea, in the air, on horses, in cars, and sometimes in your hair. In spite of the fact that "you can't find one when you want one," they are usually there when it counts most. The best way to get one is to pick up the phone. Cops deliver lectures, babies and bad news. They are required to have the wisdom of Solomon, the disposition of a lamb and muscles of steel and are often accused of having a heart to match. He's the one who rings the door bell, swallows hard and announces the passing of a loved one; then spends the rest of the day wondering why he ever took such a 'crummy' job. ' On TV a cop is an oaf who couldn't find a bull fiddle in a telephone booth. In real life he's expected to find a little blonde boy '"about so high" in a crowd of a half million people. In fiction he gets help from private eyes, reporters and '"who-dun-it" fans. In real life, mostly all he gets from the public is 'I didn't see nuttin'."' When he serves a summons he's a monster. If he lets you go, he's a doll. To little kids he's either a friend or a bogeyman, depending on how the parents feel about it. He works "around the clock,' split shifts, Sundays and holidays and it always kills him when a joker says. 'Hey tomorrow is Election Day. I'm off, let's go fishing' (that's the day he works 20 hours). A cop is like the little girl, who, when she was good, was very, very good, but when she was bad she was horrid. When a cop is good" he's getting paid for it." When he makes a mistake "he's a grafter and that goes for the rest of them too." When he shoots a stick-up man he's a hero, except when the stick-up man is "only a kid, anybody coulda seen that." \ Lots of them have homes, some of them covered with ivy, but most of them covered with mortgages.' If he drives a big car he's a chiseler; a little car, 'who's he kidding?' His credit is good this is, very helpful, because his salary isn't. Cops raise lots of kids; most of them belong to other people. A cop sees more misery, bloodshed, trouble and sunrises then the average person. Like the postman, cops must also be out in all kinds of weather. His uniform changes with the climate, but his outlook on life remains about the same; mostly a blank, but hoping for a better world. Cops like days off, vacations and coffee. They don't like auto horns, family fights and anonymous letter writers. They have unions, but they can't strike. They must be impartial, courteous and always remember the slogan "At your service." This is sometimes hard, especially. when a character reminds him, "I'm a taxpayer, | pay your salary." Cops get medals for saving lives, stopping runaway horses and shooting it out with bandits (once in a while his widow gets the medal). But sometimes the most rewarding moment comes when after some small kindness to an older person, he feels the warm hand clasp, looks into grateful eyes and hears "Thank you and God bless you, son." ASS | PORT PERRY STAR Company Limited ou oer, S <i 7 cw 2 (um): 0 Serving Port Perry, Reach, Scugog and Cartwright Townships P. HVIDSTEN, Publisher-Editor J. PETER HVIDSTEN, Advertising Manager WM. T. HARRISON, Plant 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¢ RZ Sl LY Ne ------ ~---- ho Son, Scugog ENT \ PorwTep , THERES Stun ONLY Ole Persod wie Cal WALK | ow rv //! -- Te TS ' Se Wasamier® BILL MILEY UGAR ano Srice Any day now it will be cheaper to fly to Europe and back than it is to spend a couple of days in the city. Airfares are coming down as rapidly s city prices are taking off. This was borne home tome, as they say, during a recent brief visit to the Big Smoke. And I don't mean New York. Just an ordinary Canadian city in the true north, strong but far from free. Our relatives always kindly invite us to stay with them, but we visit the bright lights so seldom that we throw caution to the wind, let ourselves go deliberately decadent, and plunge for the hotel room and all the extras. It used to be grand feeling: checking in at the hotel just like the rich people; tossing the bell hop half a dollar as though you did it every day; walking. into the luxurious room and turning up the heat and to hell with the fuel bill; picking up the phone to call room service; and loftily asking the Old Lady, "Wonder what the poor people are doing today?" But that semi-annual plunge is no longer into a warm bath of unaccustomed luxury and service. It's more like a dive off the town dock just after the ice has gone out of the bay. Not refreshing; just numbing. Things have changed. Now there's a car jockey to park your car. He can open the door with one hand and hold out the other like a professional beggar in Calcutta. Next is the doorman. If you have one small bag, he's right there, taking it from you with one hand, and holding out the other. If you have four heavy bags, he's busy whistling up a cab for a blonde. You totter across the capacious lobby, and the bellhop relieves you of your bags just before you collapse in front of the desk. There's one thing that hasn't changed: the room clerk. He's as snotty as he was 20 years ago in every city and every country. You'd think he owned the place as he looks down his nose at your overcoat with the frayed cuffs and your big rubber boots which you wore from the country. And beware the poor innocent who doesn't have a reservation. He is the dessert for the meal of this particular type of hyena. Some day, when I am old enough and crotchey enough, and I haven't had any kicks for a long time, and I've driven a hundred miles, and a room clerk smirks at me, "Sorry, we haven't a thing,", I'm going to pull a gun and shoot him right between his cold, mean little eyes. And I think a good lawyer, with an understanding jury, would get me off scot free. Next in the gauntlet is the bellboy, He doesn't lug your bags and sweat any more. He slings them onto a cart. Don't hand him, with a flourish, the old-time half-dollar. He's liable to hand it back, with a bigger flourish, and snarl. "Here, Mac, I think you need it more than I do." And he's probably right. He's no "boy." He's 38 years old and he owns three duplexes. Well, anyway, you've made it to the room. But b efore you flop on the bed, don't check the room rates on the back of the door or you won't flop, you'll swoon. Holy Old Nelly! You must be in the wrong; room, or they've given you the Trudeau' suite. Shake your head, look around the room, make sure that lady isn't Margaret. Same old room you swear you paid $18.00 for last time. Same woman. and the price tag is $30.00. This is not the time to say, 'Oh, well. In for a penny, in for a pound."' You know what happened to the pound. Your dollar is suffering the same shrinking sensations. Dazedly, you call room service, order some ice, and if you're smart, you'll tell them you don't want it transported by air from the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, (U.S.S.R.) even though it will take as long and cost as much. Don't order any glasses. They'll cost you more than a new pair at your favourite optometrist's. Drink out of your hands, as you did when you were a boy. If your wife has a yen for something sweet when you get back from the theatre of whatever, don't call room service and order French pastry and coffee. Two sad little pieces of stale Christmas cake or something and a jug of coffee will set you back four bucks, plus tip. Take a chocolate bar with you instead. Don't go to the theatre in the first place. We took our daughter and her husband to a show. Four tickets, $48. New York wouldn't have the nerve. Don't eat out. Dinner for four, at a "moderate" restaurant, with one cocktail, can run from $25 to $50. Plus the inevitable you-know-what. The only result is a nagging feeling which may be either gastritis, or your pioneer ancestors' ghosts haunting you in the stomach. Final disillusion. I always spring for a shoe-shine. It seems a reasonable luxury, as it's one of the two or three times a year my brogues get a brush. Went for it this time. Halfway through. I realized the poor devil shining my shoes was retarded. . I decided to help, in my small way. I had my quarter ready, but changed it for a fifty-cent piece. Gave it to him, feeling sort of warm inside. He pointed to a sign behind my head. It read, "Shoeshines, 50c."" It was then I realized which of us was retarded, as I fished for another two bits. 50 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 12, 1923 Cartwright Township' council passed a by-law placing the salary for the officer of health at $100 a year. The people of Scugog performed a play titled "The Economic Boomerang' which demonstrated the virture of thrift. It attracted a number of young .people from as far away as Manchester. Mr. and Mrs. Orr Shunk of Seagrave had a daughter, Merle Lettie Margaret. Mr. and Mrs. Ray E. Briton had a girl, Doris Eileen. Mr. and Mrs. Allan Buck had a girl. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 8, 1948 The ice went out on Lake Scugog on April 7. The parishioners of Immaculate Conception Church held a successful euchre and oll time dance at the high school. A good time was had by all. Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Strong of Manchester had a daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Archie Farmer had a son. The Courage of Lassie, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Tom Drake was playing in Port Perry. A cola company put an ad in the STAR pointing out that the price of everything else was going up, but its soft drinks were still only 5 cents a bottle. Ontario riding Progressive conservatives nominated Oshawa Mayor Frank N. McCallum as its candidate in a by-election here. Mens shoes were being sold for $5 a pair. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 10, 1958 Gun weilding youths bound and gagged Uxbridge 1.G.A. store manager John Hockley and his wife then made off with $400. Don Freeman bowled an almost perfect game at a Port Perry bowling alley. In two frames the four pin became stubborn, and Mr. Freeman had to go for a spare in order to get it. He bowled 8 strikes and 2 spares. Cartwright Township clerk treasurer resigned after council refused his request for a raise in pay that would have brought him up to $250 a year for his township work. Mr. and Mrs. Blake Gunter had a son. Mr. and Mrs. Murray Hoskin had a boy. Beryl and Bill Hayes had twin boys. 10 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 11, 1963 Taxes were down in Port Perry. Council announced a reduction in the mill rate of one mill commercial and 3 mills residential. Vin Walker was elected as Port Perry representative to the Ontario Amateur Softball Association. Mr. and Mrs. Ron-Laroc- que had a baby girl, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Medd had a girl. Mr. and Mrs. Keith Van Camp had a girl. Mr. and Mrs. Keith Crozier had a boy. Mr. and Mrs. Ross Real had a daughter. "Tammy Tell Me True"' starring Sandra Dee and John Gavin was playing in the area. The ice went out on Lake Scugog on April 11.