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aL IIRC " Readers'opinion rr ME WEEE Reminises about telephone party lines Late last fall the Bell Telephone Co. came along, dug up our yard and planted under ground wires" Then very carefully filled in the trench and laid the $ sods neatly over, so you had to look twice to know that the straight. There was a little crank on the side of the box and a couple of bells on top and you worked out your own combination who ever you wanted to ring.-Sometimes you "would get the wrong party, but as it was a all down the line. One day a couple of ladies were gossiping and my cousin wanted the phone. The gals just kept on talking, one mentioned a cake she had baking in the oven, this had gone on for fifteen or the merchants in Port Perry had two phones one for each _company, later Bell bought the independants out. It was the day of gravel roads, horse and buggy travel. Cars were just begin- ning to make their .appear- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, March 6th, 1974 -- 5 Students to meet -- with Beath by Bruce Arnold "Delegations," is an item on the agenda of Regional council that is usually left blank. Most requests from groups wishing to address today iately after lunch, a time of day when they are tradit- ionally in the best mood. Youth killed sod had ever been distugbed. neighbor you would have a twenty minutes, when my ance. $495.00 was the price of council are '"'received and A few days ago (last little chat anyway, if you cousin shouted over the a Model T. filed," (ignored) but the (continued Saturday) two men re- called central a little button phone "Oh I smell that cake No one was in a big hurry. agenda for today's meeting * turned, leaned a ladder on the house and informed us they were removing the over head wiring. Sure enough they came in later and instead of our ring being 2 # long and a short, it will be just one long ding a ling. They had changed us over from a party line, which was fiye subscribers to a private one. They asked us if we would be interested in a coloured phone, a bit more modern, one that would match the 3 colour of the surroudings, but as they didn't have a dark brown one with grey _ stripes we decided to keep the old one. They admitted it was in good shape, of course we have no teenagers around now, our teenagers grown up have teénagers of their own, so the phone had little wear and tear. _ After they had gone the $ phone was absolutely silent. 'Twas then I realized how much company the phone had been, even if the call was not our own. Looking back around the 1920's, we were on a party line. number 54, I believe it was and at different times as many as twelve subscribers, all rural were on the same 8' line, each with a different call number, anywhere from a long and a short to six "PALE TRICIAN 5s GET A QUOTE FROM «| FRANK VALE ELECTRIC Greenbank - Ont. 985-3402 on the side was pressed and the ring did not register on the line. It seemed some one from each family always listened in when a call was registered and everyone knew what was going on in every household burning." The lady hung up and ran, he got the line. An independent phone company started up about the same time, and was at a reduced rate, I believe the charge for a year was around ten dollars. Some of Concerned for safety of Port Perry, Ontario. March 2, 1974 Letter to the Editor, Port Perry Star, Queen Street, Port Perry, Ontario. Dear Sir: Last week you printed an article on the dangerous situation of traffic laws re- garding school buses. A more serious situation invol- ving the safety of our child- ren arises when a child can be put off the bus six miles from home and told to walk. 1 wonder if the school bus owner or driver would feel responsible if the child were molested or harmed in any way walking home. We as parents bus our children to school under the false assumption that they will be returned safely. In September, notes were sent home with all children who ride the buses notifying? parents of disciplinary pro- cedure aboard buses. If a child were found being parents would be notified. This procedure is not fol- YES WE CAN $2,000 - $50,000 2nd & 3rd Mtges We are now making loans on all types of properties in your area. Call direct coll- ect -- Prompt Investment Corp., 330 Bay St., Toronto, 366-9586 evgs. 231-8146. Low cost, any purpose, Ontario wide. FREE\} lowed by either the bus owner or drivers. We expect our children to abide by the rules, but apparently bus ,owneyrs and drivers do not feel obligated to do so. When disciplinary measures are necessary the parents must be contacted. Repeated bad behaviour should result in the child being put off the bus at his destination and the DJ id PRI They would stop their horse and buggy for a friendly chat over the fence or when they met on the road, but the party line is on its way out from this community. Its the end of an era. J.B.F. students parents informed that bus service is no longer available for that particular person. At present bus drivers do put bothersome children off the bus with no previous warning. This practice must be stopped before some stu- dent is hurt or killed trying to get home. Sincerely, o Concerned Parent -in'Whitby has made room at 1:30 this afternoon "Delegations; Mr. for, Paul ,Arculus re: student tour of the United Kingdom." «Mr. Arculus, a teacher at Port Perry High, will arrive in time for the 1:30 appoint- ment accompanied by a bus load of local high school students who will be going on the April educational tour of the British Isles. He will receive a number of local history books and a parchment from chairman Walter Beath, which the students will present to the Lord Mayor and council of Durham, England while visiting that historic city. Durham council usually breaks for lunch at 12:30 p.m., so councillors will meet the student's immed- GLIDDEN her passenger, James Mit- chell of Lot 2, Con. 3, Reach Twp. were seriously injured.' They were both taken to Port Perry Hospital where it is reported that both are now in satisfactory condition. The accident occurred at 1:00 p.m. Sunday, when a 1970 Tempest driven by Alan Senour 24, of Scarboro was travelling eastbound and the 1969 Buick driven by Mrs. Mitchell proceeded to make a left hand turn. The Senour vehicle hit the Mitchell veh- icle broadside. Damage to the Buick was estimated at $1,500 and the Tempest $1,000. Mrs. Mitchell has been charged with improper turn- ing. The accident was inves- tigated by Constable Steve Mowat. 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