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

- £ ¥ Readers' opinions Farmers hard hit Energy minister asked to halt Hydro increases Publisher's note: The Star has been asked to print the letter below, origin- ally addressed to the Hon. Darcy McKeough, Minister" of energy. a Hon. Darcy McKeough, Minister of Energy, Queens Park, Toronto. 2. Dear Mr: McKeough: I appeal to you to limit the 'increases being asked for by Ontario Hydro. Ontario's prosperity has been mainly because of cheap Hydro power. Manu- facturing already hit hard by natural gas and other oil products increases cannot face a staggering almost 100 per cent increase in the next five years. Homeowners who have switched to electric heat, hot water heaters etc. at the advice of Ontario Hydro find themselves caught with no alternative. Let us not forget all of these people (millions) have a vote! (Inflation has been the downfall of more governments than any other single cause in- this decade.) Hydro has just had a 7 1% to 10 percent increase in rates across the province. Farm- ers already hit hard by 40 per cent increase in fertilizer and other farm needs, 25 per cent in gasoline and heating oil are facing a breaking point. Thousands are just plain giving up farming as there sons are no longer interested in making $1.50 to $2.00 an hour for a 15 to 18 hour day, many not even making that according to government figures here in Ontario. Pensioners and retired families move to the country often to lake cottages to avoid the high cost of living in the urban areas only find that heating oil costs more in the country and now Hydro has just been increased 10 per cent and they face another 15 per cent EVERY YEAR FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. Hydro, like Bell Canada employees are well paid, yet the first thing they did after the strike a' year or so-ago was to give themselves large raises. I refer here to super- visory and executive work- ers. For example the school teachers strike by only 667 York County teachers for 31 days SAVED THE TAX -° PAYERS $1,240,000.00 in un- paid salaries. With Hydro's strike at least $10 million in unpaid wages. efints). (and ben- - FREE\$ assistance to help you choose the right lighting fixtures foryourhome, Call us for an appointment or drop into our large showroom at 75 Richmond Street West in Oshawa. If Ruddy Electric Wholesale Ltd. 75 RICHMOND ST. WwW OSHAWA 725-3539 Hydro officials not so long ago stated that they make $8 million in profits selling hydro to New York and Michigan states. Why then. should the users in Ontario have their major natural resourse, Hydro rates DOUBLED in the next 5 years, Its inflationary ef-' fects could cripple industry, business and even the home- owner, already weak from fighting other inflationary pressures. When basic ener- gy goes up so does every- thing else--food,. manufac- tured goods, transport, cloth- ing, education costs, taxes, etc. Unemployment would be disastrous. If there is one Minister in the Ontario Government who will speak out let it be Darcy McKeough. As Robert Stan- field and I have discussed many times of late..IN- FLATION is "everybody's business. Sir Adam Beck would turn over in his grave if he knew Hydro wants to increase its rates almost DOUBLE over the next five years. Yours sincerely, Dean J. Kelly, President Association of Dedicated Canadians PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, May 22nd, 1974 -- 5 Asks assistance to organize Durham-wide social network May 11th, 1974. Dear Editor: The Commissioner of So- cial Services for Durham Region, Mr. Doug Johns, has approached the Social Planning Councils of Oshawa Whitly and of Ajax-Picker- ing, to investigate the feas- ibility of convening a group Makes Victoria Day celebration suggestions To the editor: Another one of our holi- days is fast approaching us. The Queen's birthday, also known as 'Victoria -Day' celebrated May twentieth this year, is just around the corner. In previous years this day was a highly cele- brated event. * The children had a day off school in respect of this holiday and at twilight the star-studded skies were lum- inous with exploding rockets at local firewords displays. Firecrackers boomed - like mini-explosions and red, gre- en, or yellow flares flooded the skies. However, with recent governmental legisla- "tion, all firecrackers and rockets composed of gun powder were banned.No longer will people be able to witness the designs or the multi-coloured lights formed from the bursting rockets. Instead of 'Victoria Day' being celebrated with a big bang this year, it will prob- ably be just a little fizzle. One of the largest thrills of teenagers upon reaching their sixteenth birthday be- sides getting their license to drive, was the privilege to . purchase firecrackers.These teenage firecracker fanatics would literally pur- chase all of the business establishments stock. Now however, all the excitement of this holiday has vanished. Even the firemen cannot put on a display of fireworks. Perhaps in the future most of our traditional holidays will disappear. The 'Easter Bun- ny' will be shot by some wary hunters or 'Santa Claus' will sell out to the Mattel Toy Factory. If you do not know how to pass the 'Victoria Day' holi- day, here are some sugges- tions. You could organize a streak with the streakers carrying lighted candles. Perhaps you could form a committee to organize a community trip to the high spots like Conway Gardens- & order flaming shishkabobs Another suggestion would be to drop in at a Women's * Liberation meeting and ob- serve them burning bras. If you really have the desire to hear fireworks, take a trip to 5 Inch Tops Washington D.C. and attend the Watergate Hearings. Al- so if you like travelling why not fly to the Israeli-Arabian border and watch the fire- works at the Golan Heights. - approx. 7 feet $ ~~ S Ee tN NN NS 10% LESS CASH & CARRY 7 PRICES SHOWN _ Table, Fence etc. CEDAR FENCING POSTS If you are able to attend just one of these events, perhaps 'Victoria Day' without fire- crackers will not be so dull. by Rick Prosser HOMEJANDIGOITAGE AMEROVEMENIIS We have the material to build a Sun Deck, Patio, Picnic of volunteers representative of all the populated areas in the Region, to consider and advise on the use of Social Services Grants funds, and other related matters. The intent is to have citizen input from the areas in need of services, so that as fair as possible a distribution of the scarce resources is made. At present we have in the discussion group, people from Ajax, Pickering, Whit- by, Oshawa, Port Uxbridge, Beaverton, and Cannington. We have also representation from the (continued on page 6) Perry, 8 v 5%. filer or |) } igi) » ' ¥ Wp Ed oy ZX 2 ) J : 7 Rr SD A ~ Ne NY 1 35 90 1b. eevee $2.39 } 450b. wooo $1.59 EACH 250b. woe $1.09 Glidden Qutside PAINT Olympic STAIN ..°10% 24" x 24" Patio Slabs $172 SAKRETE gal $59 GH 7 5 Wr | | 7/2 CEDAR 1" x6" Cedar 2" x 6" Cedar............ 2" x 4" Cedar 4" x 4" Cedar 2" x 8" Cedar 39% Lin. Fr. esessrrasasensnnn 23 Lin. Ft. 23 Lin. Ft. 68° Lin. Ft. 52% Lin. Ft. & < ii, 235 WATER SPRUCE -17x6" LAKE SCUGOG LUMBER ST. - 985-7391 - PORT PERRY 14, , Tr SE >: VERN To x : on "Es 3 -- = 7 <r