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PRN EASS ARTA (FE nd MATE Rh £0 HERE IT RISES ASS Reader's Viewpoint Dear Sirs: ..Christmas will soon be celebrated and many of us will assist those less fortun- ate, whether personally with a gift, or as an organized group's contribution, Some of the assistance will be directed outside this com- munity of Scugog, in the belief that there is no need here. For the past two years, the Scugog Social Planning Council has attempted to , co-ordinate the Christmas gift program working with Our Ken The Editor: I have just read the fine article on Ken Jackson in the September Financial Post magazine. To be featured in Canada's most important financial magazine is a major tribute. I have told Ken, privately, "that I am very proud of his achievement. Port Perry should also be very proud. We owe his a great deal. Sincerely, Joel W. Aldred. _ Council prepares Yule gift effort the public health nurse, wel- fare worker and family coun- sellor. Children's clothing and toys and some food baskets were generously provided by Church service and recreational groups and private citizens. This exper- ience has demonstrated we could help even more people if a little more planning was done. To this end, we have invited Mrs. Jeannette Babington, from the Oshawa Christmas Assistance Pro- gram (C.A.P.) to speak to our general Social Planning Council meeting on October 7 1976 at 8:00 p.m. at the Municipal Offices in Port Perry. We would especially wel- come to this meeting repre- sentatives from those organ- izations that participated last year, and those individ- uals who could give a few hours to a worthwhile cause. Sincerely, Betty Deeth, Secretary, Scugog Social Council. Planning The two people holding the plague have saved a life, and the other three are local Lions Club members who made sure that such an unselfish act could, should and would be recognized and appreci- ated. It was the quick action of Arthur Forsythe of Marg Osburne: a By Jane Litt Singer Marg Osburne, a long-time favourtie . with Canadian T.V. fans, stopped by at Town Hall 1873 on Monday night, September 27. An enthusiastic audience was on hand to welcome Marg and to meet her fellow Maritimers, the Hennesseys. Led by composer, Darryl Hennessey, this talented young group made use of the electric organ, saxophone, Oshawa and Dorothy Nelson of Port Perry that saved the life of a Lindsay area man in July when his tractor turned over trapping him underneath. Lion Bob Grieveson (left), Zone Chairman Alden Bailey, and local club President John Zaparozan (right) did the honours. crowd-pleaser flute, and trumpet, in addit- ion to drums and guitar. They were more than a background for Marg, whose repertoire is now extended far beyond her Don Messer image. But it was the old Marg Osburne who poured out "This Land is Your Land" and brought the audience to its feet. And once again, after many decades, Town Hall 1873 was a stop-over for a travelling road show. 'Bill Smiley School Daze That strong gust of wind you felt in early September, as the nation's schools reopen- ed, wasn't a warm front moving in from the west. It was hundreds of thousands of mothers giving a simultaneous sigh of relief at getting their offspring out of the house and out from underfoot for five days a week out of the next 10 months. There was another gust of hot air at the same time. This one came from the critics of education, who are numerous as the sands of the desert, and who wonder, in print and aloud, what the taxpayer is getting for his education dollar. ow Well, for one thing, he or she is getting me. For the next 10 months, I will devote myself, at a nominal remuneration, to the task of trying to teach young people how to read, write and speak their own language with some degree of accuracy. Like, you know, it's crazy man, but that's the way the frisbee flies. Far be it from me to bite the hand that feeds me, but most of the critics are all wet. 50 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 7, 1926 A Record Box has been placed ifi the new Port Perry School wall con- taining the Voter's List of 1926, brief notes regard- ing the fire and steps taken to rebuild the school, records of staff and scholars of both High and Public schools, numerous pictures including three views of Mr. Kent's garden, records from council, churches, library and other institutions, as well as many other artifacts and records. Mr. and Mts. Harry Murray of Boston, Mass. and Mr. Cuthbert McLean of Tyne Valley, PEI, were guests of Mr. and Mrs. D. A. Lyle, Prince Albert, over the weekend. Mr. McLean is attending Wycliffe College, Tor- onto. Remember When..? 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 4, 1951 Dr. G. M. Rennie, Port Perry, is attending the Ontario Public Health Association meeting in Toronto this week, as part of Medical Health officer's duty. Quite a few people from Utica attended the shower-dance at Man- chester for the former Dorothy McCartney and Joyce McKee on Saturday evening. : Lawrence Medd and Clifford Boyington from Epsom were guests of the Shriners at the Shrine Circus held at Maple Leaf Gardens on Monday. 15YEARS AGO Thursday, October 5, 1961 Mr. and Mrs. J. Roy Ferguson of West Bank, B.C., are spending a couple of weeks visiting relatives in Cartwright. Mr. and Mrs. F. Pearce, Mrs. Sarjantson and Mr. and Mrs. L. Beacock were among the two Port Perry busloads who enjoyed Lake Placid, N.Y., on the weekend. 10 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 6, 1966 According to the Census of Canada 1966, the popu- lation of Port Perry is 2,624. This is an increase of 123 people from 1965. Mrs. Gordon Mac- Donald, Port Perry, brought four of the larg- est potatoes from her garden in to the "Star" office. The total weight of the four was 10 1b. 4 oz. and the largest measured 8'" in height and 6" wide. Mr. and Mrs, Jim Mitchell, Manchester, have returned from a two month vacation in England. Some, with extra-bright children, are furious that the public school system does not provide enriched courses for their kids, so that they'll emerge from high school with the equivalent of a private school and a university education. But they don't pay any more school taxes than I do, and I have no children in school. I'm helping pay for their kids' education. Others, too lazy or scared to discipline their own kids, expect the schools to do it, then are the first to sue a teacher who finally, being human, can't resist giving their darling a whack on the head. A growing number of critics take up the chant of *'getting back to the basics," when they find that their kids can't do long division without a calculator, can't write a servile letter, and know more about sex than they do about science. What these people really mean is: "Why don't them there teachers give the kids a real good training in the basic elementals like what I got?" These are people who can't do short division, unless it's two into four, use the dash as their only punctuation mark when writing a letter, and know nothing about either science or sex. There's another type of critic. This is the type who deals in figures. He is infuriated when he sees that the town council spent 46 per cent of its budget on education and only 22 per cent on the Works Department. He'd rather spend money on straightening out roads than on straightening out his kids' heads. There is one critic for whom I feel some sympathy. This is the mis-named Senior Citizen. He, or she, never got much education, because in those days you had to go to work, and only the elite, the sons of doctors and lawyers and such had a hope of going to college. These people feel a righteous indignation that their moderate incomes are taxed to support those overpaid teachers and those expensive buildings and all those young layabouts who should be out working, when they, themselves, get absolutely nothing out of their education taxes. Well, tough toenails, Oldtimers. You helped elect the governments that are bleeding you. And another point. We all have to pay, sooner or later. You and I are leaving these kids so far in debt they'll never get out. The critics don't bother me. 1 work hard at my job, and 99 per cent of the teachers in the country do the same. We are not all either a Socrates or a Jesus, but we do the best we can with what we have. You know, we're not turning our pulpwood or sausages or cake mixes. We are not producing a product, whatever the manu- facturers and business people think we should be doing. We are dealing, every day, for several years of their lives, with that most intricate of mechanisms, a human being. And we are doing that at the most sensitive and delicate stage of its metamorphosis into adult. Try that on for size. And we're not going it that badly. The old, mindless authoritarianism, which attracted the weak and the bullies into the teaching profession, along with many first-class people, is gone. That's good. The old system, under which kids from professional families went on and kids from poor families went into service or factories or common laboring is gone. That's good. We're trying to offset the mindless garb- age of television by teaching kids to be curious and skeptical and challenging of the shoddy and insidious. And that's good. Let me give an example. I was in the bank during the summer. Right behind me was Ed, a boy I'd taught about three years ago. He'd been caught drinking beer in a car in the school grounds, and was expelled for a week. Asked him how things were going. "Oh, pretty good, Mr. Smiley. I'm in construction with Mose. Remember Mose?' 1 did. Mose was a large, good-natured fellow who had staggered through the two-year course in high school. Ed showed me the cheque he was cashing. I almost fell on the floor of the bank. Those two guys were making, each, almost as much as I was, after years of education and experience. Thirty years ago, they'd both have wound up on the end of a pick or shovel. 'Nuff said. It may be costing you an arm and a leg, but education today is doing more than churning out cheap labor for the masters of society. The Argyle Syndicate Ltd. ek or -- IAAI pe SA [re _