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3 4 These happy people are a part of a church choir on the way to sing at Kinsale. They are, from left, Kathleen Meharry, W.H. [Will] 60 YEARS AGO . Thursday, June 19, 1919 . The trustees of the Church are having their electric light plant installed this week and are expecting to have it in full operation next Sunday and Monday. Ruthven McDonald, the famous Toronto Baritone will entertain on Monday evening at the Sunday School An- niversary here at Seagrave so get your car ready or your team hitched up to arrive at Seagrave in time for supper. Harris, Edith Ross, George Jackson, McKenzie and Merlin Letcher. [ Photo courtesy of G.H. Jackson, M.D.] May Owing to the metal workers' strike the erection of the memorial flagstaff at the high school has been delayed for an indefinite time. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 22, 1944 The Corporation has the distinction of owning the b first electric lawn mower in the Village of Port Perry, the "Len Leahy Electric." PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, June 13, 1979 -- § letters Irresponsible action Dear Sir: I have been following the "Letters to the Editor" per- taining to the use of the lakeside property, and am glad to read that there are others beside myself who feel that Municipal Offices are not the answer. I have always failed to understand the thinking of all levels of Government when it comes to land use! Never consider scrubland further away connected by rapid transit. Let urban sprawl build over the Niag- ara Fruitlands - then all we have to do is import our fruit and when a basket of peach- es becomes a luxury, we will realize our loss. A beautiful ravine running down the cen- tre of a city? -build an expressway. Then you can use the expressway to drive mt on rats ned SES (Turn to page 6) i J chotte JUST CAN'T WIN - As everyone knows, 1979 is the International Year of the Child. At points in Ontario just north of here, it looks like this summer is shaping up as the Year of the Mosquito and Black Fly. Those pesky little creatures which are the bane of just about everyone who ventures out of the house from May through September have always been a nuisance, of course. But I'm told that this year, all over Ontario, mosquitoes and black flies seem to be worse than ever, and in the northern part of the province, they are so thick that cottagers, fishermen, and campers are just about at their wit's end trying to cope. A lot of people have their own theories, of course, about why these two summer pests seem to be getting worse; the ban on spraying for example, is cited as one reason. And at the University of Guelph, an entomologist suggests that the rivers and creeks of this province are so clean that the black fly and mosquito are hatching in unlimited numbers from their traditional breeding grounds. Now there is a bit of irony for you. We take steps to clean up our rivers and streams, to make them free of pollution and garbage so that we can all enjoy a cleaner natural environment, and what happens? Black flies and mosquitoes take advantage of our ecological cleanliness to breed like wild-fire and drive us all indoors, anyway. I guess it just goes to show that we can't have it all ways. We can't have cleaner water and a summer free from bug bites. But I just bet there are a lot of people around who would rather have it the other way. They would much prefer to camp beside a polluted stream or river and not have to worry about black flies and mosquitoes. SNAPPING TURTLES In this issue of the Port Perry Star there is an interesting story about four men who spend a few days each year setting traps for snapping turtles in Lake Scugog. As you can see from the pictures, these inhabitants of marsh and swamp are not Mother Nature's most attractive creatures. In fact, they look downright fearsome. And if someone was foolish enough to stick a finger in front of the snout of a snapping turtle, there is a good chance that someone could end up minus a finger. But before everyone pulls their boats out of Lake Scugog, or refuses to let the kids go for a swim on a hot summer afternoon, it should be pointed out that snapping turtles present almost no threat to human beings. They are not lurking just beneath the surface of the water, waiting and watching for some unsuspecting boater to dangle toes or a foot over the side of a boat. eg. If there is wonderful farmland, cover it with con- crete and build an airport. out of the city faster to find a beautiful ravine to picnic (Turn to page 6) Letters Policy As a community newspaper, the Port Perry Star welcomes letters to the editor from our readers on any issue or subject. Our policy concerning letters is that the writer's name and address must be included with the letter. We will publish an unsigned letter provided we know the identity of the writer. } However, we would strongly urge that all letter writers allow their names to be printed along with their letters. Printing one's name gives weight and credibility to the letter and the arguments being made. While we urge our readers to express their opin- ions in the public forum of our letters to the editor "column, we must at the same time reserve the right to edit letters with regards to good taste and liability. Letters to the editor should be typed (if possible), double spaced, or neatly hand-written in ink. boX by John B. McClelland In fact, you could probably spend a whole summer boating, swimming, fishing, and water skiing Lake Scugog and never see a snapping turtle, much less meet one face to face. And even if you should, by chance, come across a snapping turtle, leave it alone and it will leave you alone. But for goodness sake's, don't stick a finger in front of the snout. HOCKEY IN JUNE? I see where two provinces have taken the bull by the horns in an effort to curb the growing violence in minor hockey by slapping a ban on all body checking for age groups up to Pee Wee. The Minor Hockey Association in Ontario is making noises towards that end and there are a lot of people who think that body contact should be banned at all levels in minor hockey. I tend to agree. It is long time the powers-that-be who run minor hockey in Ontario and the rest of Canada got serious about making the sport safe for all players. A ban on body checking would be a start. Now, there are those who say that bolly checking is part of the game, and to take it away would only lead to more use of the stick. That argument just doesn't hold water as far as I'm concerned. One of the main causes of high sticking and other dirty tactics in the minor tanks is the body check improperly executed. Have you ever watched an eight-year old try to throw a body check? They lead with an elbow or a knee, and that in return leads to retaliation, usually with the stick. : There is only one player on a minor hockey team who benefits from body checking: the biggest and the strongest. Unfortunately, youngsters at nine or ten years of age are not of equal size and strength. As far as I'm concerned there are few sadder sights in the world of sport than seeing a small ten year old getting reefed into the boards by a bigger player throwing a so-called legal body check. Some argue that it is necessary to teach youngsters how to body check at an early age because it is part of the game and they will have to learn it anyway if they advance beyond the minor ranks. That is hogwash. As far as I'm concerned minor hockey coaches should spend their time teaching kids how to skate, shoot, pass and handle the puck. Body checking should be taught when and if a youngster advances beyond the minor ranks. I think that minor hockey in this country could live very well without body checking. There's no question that we need to re-think our entire approach to the game at the minor levels because much of the present thought is neanderthal. And as for the argument that a ban on body checking would result in more high-sticking, I suggest that if stringent penalties, including suspensions, were handed out for high-sticking, butt-ending and so on, those infractions would all but disappear from the game. Minor hockey has made great advances in the use of special equipment to protect youngsters from injury. A few simple changes in the rules would go a long way in putting some fun back in the game for everyone's sake. AND FINALLY...... I got to my first Blue Jay basebal! game recently, and it was, well, shall we say, disappointing. The Blue Jays are a joke. In the game I saw, the fact that the Blue Jays were atrocious didn't bother me too much. I mean I was prepared to see a few errors. But the players on the opposing team seemed to take a cue from the Blue Jays and put on a pretty rotten exhibition of baseball as well. That's what bugged me more than anything. I thought I might see some decent baseball by at least half the players on the field. But no, the opposition that night played just well enough to beat the Jays by one run, and it was hardly major league calibre. It is easy to knock the Jays for being such an awful team: bad trades, lousy management, etc., etc. But the opposition players deserve a few knocks, too, for lowering themselves to the same levels as the Blue Jays. It will be a frosty Tuesday in July before I go back to Exhibition Stadium. (port perry star ik Company Limited J.PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager J.B. McCLELLAND Editor Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and 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 $8.00 per year BTsewhere $10.00 per year. Single copy 20¢ a NY a Me oe