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Ai AA Ni ASST RI a A OIA df y ig hak sd Jal ACTORS, SR YS + Re in AT MOSS A FER I ed SR EA ART RA 4 1 po ry ~ - oF. » a S CR remember when ...? wry 4 j= 3 £4 This photo was taken about 1908 and pictures are Mrs. Leola Hooper ' [in baby carriage], Mrs. Myrtle Wagner [girl at left] and Mrs. Chester Asling. Mr. Asling is reported to have been the school teacher, store keeper, implement dealer and post master at Epsom until the rural mail [Photo courtesy of Mrs. Jean Jeffery] came through. 60 YEARS AGO. Thursday, February 12, 1920 Mr. Rogerson, proprietor of the St. Charles Hotel, put in two Snooker pool tables and one pool table. The bye word among the boys now is "snooker". Attendance at the\Public Schools at the south end of Reach Township and the northern part of Whitby Town- _. ship has been very small. Reach No. 3 has an average attendance of 5 and East Whitby No. 7 has an average attendance of 3. Reach has now been closed due to the lack of pupils. The rink fund is $64. to th who enjoyed the Carnival Friday (Turn to page 6) ood and the people last week really AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE? Do you ever get the feeling you're missing something; that somehow there is a piece not in place and you wonder why the jig-saw puzzle doesn't quite fit? A week ago Monday, I attended a political candidates meeting here in Scugog, and for almost two hours listened as the hopefuls flailed away at each other. They left the impression that if something isn't done quickly in Canada, we stand a good chance of seeing it all go down the drain. Turn on the 11 o'clock news and it's the same thing; Clark, Broadbent and Trudeau criss-crossing five thousand miles of Canadian landscape telling us that if we vote for the other guy, things will go from bad to worse. The country is on the verge of ruin, they say. We're so far in debt we'll never see the light of day. Inflation is running rampant through the land, etc., etc., and so on, and so on. Pretty grim stuff to try to get sleep on. Next day, the annual report from the Bank of Com- merce arrives via the mail. Flipping through it there is some rather interesting reading, especially in the 'high- lights' which are noted quite prominently on page two. According to the 'Highlights (an appropriate term the bank's revenue increased $1.4 billion in 1979. Total assets increased $7 billion last year, and after tax profits jumped a paltry $33 million, to $186 million. I'm no financial wizard; banks have always left me feeling slightly jittery. But I think on balance, the Commerce people must be fairly well pleased with the performance in 1979. I mean that $33 million profit is nothing to sneeze at, and it could have been a loss. Then, wouldn't the politicians have had something to shout about? The Globe and Mail Report on Business also carried a rather interesting news item last week, showing that a survey of 115 Canadian companies had profits totally $6.1 billion last year, an increase over the previous year of 40 percent. Leading the list of the profit makers are six companies involved in theysmining and refining of base metals: they chalked up an increase of just under 160 per cent. Not at all bad for a year that was supposed to be "tough sledding'; a year when politicians of all shapes and colours were telling the little old wage earner to *'tighten the belt and bite the bullet." Balderdash. That's all I have to say to them. It was also interesting to note in the Bank of Commerce report that last year it paid $37 million in income tax (a hefty sum, I agree) but a far cry from the $112 million the bank paid in 1978. (I'm still reading the fine print to find out how they managed to do that. Sure wish I could do the same chotterbox with my pay-cheque.) The point of this is simple. If you listen to the politicians, especially during an election campaign, they'll have you believe that the end is nigh. Like I said, sometimes I just can't quite figure it out. Here we are riding a greased skid to doom and destruction, and Anne Murray's bank is laughing all the way to the bank. And if the mining and smelting industry keeps up the pace, they are going to own the banks before too long. Goodness, 159 per cent profit is enough to satisfy even the most fanatical free entrepriser. So you try to figure it out. And the next time you meet some wide-eyed politician jumping up and down, waiving his arms in the air like a ninnie, and shouting that the economy is in ruin, tell him to go fly a kite. WE NEED WINTER Have you noticed how cranky and cantankerous Canadians have become in the last few months? I know we are smack dab in the middle of an idiotic election campaign, which is enough to get anyone's dander. But aside from that, we seem to be able to find the darndest things to get all riled over. Just why we seem to be so snarky has escaped me, but walking up Queen Street last Friday at noon, I now think I know the reasons. It's' the weather. Here we are in the middle of February, usually the toughest month of the year to get through: snow coming out our ears, cars that won't start in the morning, heating bills that would break the bank, freezing cold winds and blizzards. But so far, this winter has been a snap. Last Friday at noon, the sun was high in the sky, almost balmy; people were walking around with their coats open, and it was even pleasant enough for the good citizens of Port Perry to do their chin-wagging on the steps of the post office, rather than in the lobby. Usually, in the dark depths of February, we vent our frustrations and anger on the winter weather. But this year we've been cheated. We can't really complain about the weather, so we have to find something else to gripe about. January and February, after all, are the traditional months for Canadians to do their griping. I've come to the conclusion that the best tonic for this country right now would be three solid weeks of tough, winter weather: really tough weather. It would take our minds off politics, the Ayatollah, the Maple Leafs, the state of the economy, the Library, Afghanistan, and the Moscow Olympics. PORT PERRY STAR -- Wed., February 13, 1980 -- 5 letters Short-changed? Dear Sir: When Is A Cord Not A Cord? I would suspect most of the time! If you are a buyer of stovewood - Be- ware! According to telev- vision and newspaper reports many buyers are being cheated on the quan- tity of wood purchased. 1 just received my first "bushcord" from a local advertiser on Saturday, January 2. It was ordered by phone and I was told that the pieces average 16" and the cost for a complete "bush- cord" was $110.00. The price seemed right! When it was delivered in a 34 ton pickup, my eye (untrained that it is) told me it wasn't a full cord. I expressed my doubts to the gentleman and he confirmed that it was indeed a full cord. Pardon me for being suspicious, but I suggest you be too! When the load was thrown on the ground it looked even smaller and I took a couple of pictures of it before I touched anything. The next day I went to the, trouble of building a plywood rectan- gular box (4 ft. wide x 4 ft. high x 8 ft. long) and pro- ceeded to pile the pieces. Result? Two full rows and one row half full! By rapid calculation I ascertained that I was about 1/6 of a cord short. But wait a minute! 1 even measured the length of McClelland numerous pieces and many, were in the 13" to 14" range. Very few exceeded the 16" mark. When you pay for a 16" piece and get a 14" piece, you lose 2'. Once again, rapid calculation! The seller was contacted and asked to refund $20.00 or bring enough wood to com- plete the bushcord. He refused, indicating that I" was the dishonest one. He was advised that there would be a story in the Port Perry (Turn to page 6) Library is an honour Dear Sir: What can be said about a town that places so little value in its library. Not much really. Most people in this world consider it an honour to be given a larger library. A monument to their intelli- gence and knowledge. A library is usually the first target to be put to the torch in a dictatorship or totalit- arian state. Book burnings are common throughout history. But Port Perry needs none of these. It's quite capable of choking its own library to (Turn to page 6) Canadians are happiest when they can talk about the weather; when they can blame the weather for their problems. Unless we get a real taste of winter in the next few weeks, I have a feeling that spring is going to be simply intolerable in this country, and summer not much better. We need to get our winter griping out of our system now. before the first flowers bloom this spring. Canadians have a sort of in-grained complex. We don't Know when we're well off. We feel guilty if we're not suffering from something. We have had a lovely winter 30 far, yet we don't know how to accept it graciously. Unfortunately, our politicians are not making it any easier this time, feeding fuel on the fire by conducting one of the sleaziest, most negative campaigns ever. They are cashing in on the fact that we don't have winter to kick around this year, so the politicians are telling us to kick around the other guy. Come on Winter. Let it snow and blow and get freezing cold. Give Canadians something to really complain about. And may Joe, Pierre and Ed get stranded some cold night in an eight foot snow drift somewhere on the Prairies. Then they'd have something to complain about. ( port perry staf 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 $10.00 per year _ Elsewhere: $18.00 per year Single Copy: 25° AER GEER ark tr) 0. AL TY a KA PEN NEARS Fr LE oN ey aA - at J Pe ---- Par LNT LO Sy