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{2 Hh 1 Ty RC Zw Tae De 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wed. October 13, 1982 editoria BATE ASO Jake Tarn Lr A Lr yd | comments "| $eE BY your 710 YOU GO ALONG W/JH THAT OAN' SE sTUuFF! a N\_77 chatterbox by John B. McClelland A couple of Canadians captured the international spot-light last week in far flung corners of the world: one for swimming, the other for climbing. Way down under in Australia, an 18 year old Canadian swimmer named Victor Davis caused quite a stir at the Commonwealth Games when he threw a temper tantrum after his team was disqualified from the relay. The Canadians, by the way, had just won the gold medal by a long margin. When the disqualification was announced, young Mr. Davis put the boot to a pool-side chair then gave a shove to a press photographer trying to film the tantrum. Athletes in a snit are nothing new, but Mr. Davis' snit occurred in front of Queen Elizabeth who happened to be watching the pool events that day. Horror of horrors. Such conduct is not becoming to a young gentleman, especially in front of Royalty. The Australian press proceeded to give Mr. Davis a pretty good raking for his behaviour. Now, I'm not saying I condone temper tantrums, but in a way I'm glad to hear that Mr. Davis was more than just mildly upset on learning the team had been done out of a gold medal on an electronic technicality. He's a competitor through and through. He went to the Commonwealth Games to win, not to enjoy the scenery. He takes his sport seriously, and to win in international competition these days, you have to take things seriously. If this guy had simply shrugged his shoulders and waved to the crowd on learning of the disqualification, it would tell me he didn't really care all that much. Like I said, I can't condone the actions of Mr. Davis, but for my money, anyone with that kind of intensity and burning desire to win is the kind of guy I want on any team that is representing Canada in international sports events. By the way the Canadian swim team is winning plenty of medals at the Commonwealth Games. And that's nice to know, considering the Olympic games are just a couple of years away. From a swimming pool in Australia to the top of the highest mountain in the world, the other Canadian who made headlines last week was Laurie Skreslet who fought his way 29,008 feet to the top of Everest. Personally speaking, I must admit that mountain climbing as a sport leaves me a little cold. But apparently, the sport is a demanding physically as any. And the number of deaths each year on mountain slopes around the world attests to the danger of this kind of adventure. In many stories about the attempts to scale Mount Everest over the years, I have always felt a little bit sorry for the Sherpa guides. These tough little men who guide the expeditions up and down the rhountains of the Himalayas seem to do a lot of the work, but get precious little glory. A lot of the times they don't even get their names in the papers. A typical Everest news story reads like this. "After struggling for seven days against fierce winds and cold, two American climbers finally reached the top of Mount Everest at 2:37 GMT." The story then goes into great detail about the climbers, their step by step trip up the mountain. And finally in the last paragraph the story will say, 'the climbers were accompanied by two Sherpa guides." I wish somebody would do a story on the Sherpa guides. Who are these guys, anyway? We all know the name of the first man to scale Mount Everest back in 1953. But what are the names of the Sherpas who helped Hillary reach the top? Talk about a lack of recognition. The Sherpa guides should form an association and demand to get equal time in the papers, on TV and in the movies. From what I have read about the Sherpas, they are so strong, so tough and so attuned to working at high altitudes, most of them could scamper up Everest and be back down in time for supper. Anyway, Mr. Skreslet has the honour of being the first Canadian to reach the top of Everest, and I guess when he gets back home the Federal Government will find some kind of appropriate medal to pin on his chest. I hope Canada can find a medal for the two Sherpa guides, as well. Their names, by the way, are Lhapka Tshering and Pema Dore, age and address unknown. IN CLOSING I feel I owe the Durham Federation of Agriculture a bit of an.apology for not getting their press release into the paper in time for Agri-Week Open Houses held two weekends ago at three farms in Scugog Township. The release was slotted to get into the paper, but over-looked during a hectic day of.-production. These things happen from time to time, and about all we can say is sorry. I think the idea of holding Open Houses at area farms is an excellent one to give non-farm people a chance to take a look at a farming operation first hand, talk to the people who own and dperate farms, and get a feel for some of the problems that farms are facing these days. As long as the shelves in our super-markets are well stocked, most of us tend to take farming pretty much for granted. We gripe at the cost of food and often point the finger at the producer. There is a wide gap between the cost of food on the shelf and the price paid to the prime producers. Anyway, my apologies to the Federation. I hope the organization holds another series of Open Houses in the not-too-distant future, and believe me, we will guarantee plenty of publicity to help get the urban folk out to the country for a day to have a good look at the way a modern farm operates. Waste Of Money You can draw your own conclusions, but as far as we're concerned, the Provincial Government's $900,000 campaign to get Ontario residents out to the polls for the November 8 municipal election, is a shameful waste of money. Granted, $900,000 is a mere drop in the bucket for a Government that has a budget running into the tens of billions. Nevertheless, spending money for TV and radio jingles, and cranking out enough press releases to fill a briefcase, is indefensible for a Government that is supposed to be committed to restraint. Surely, most citizens of this province are mature enough to make up their own minds whether they want to vote in municipal elections, or whether they even care that there is a municipal election on November 8. If a property owner doesn't care how tax dollars are spent or who the candidates are seeking office, that's his (or her) business. Slick jingles are not going to change anybody's mind. We do agree, however, that there are many voters shamefully ignorant of the political process in general and municipal politics in particular. And this is reflected in voter turn-out on election day where a 50 per cent turn-out is considred well above the average. The people of Ontario get enough Government advertising tossed in their direction. They don't need a campaign telling them to get out and vote at a cost of $900,000. Talk about a waste of money. Earth Stations Sometimes the logic of decisions made by the Federal Government is difficult to follow. The latest involves who can install one of those television earth receiving stations, those moon- shaped discs which are sprouting like mushrooms on the roofs of taverns, apartment buildings and private homes. The Federal communications department ruled last week that the discs are a no-no for taverns and condominiums, but OK for private home-owners. Just why they are all right for private individ- vals but not so for businesses is not exactly clear. Maybe it has something to do with the price: an earth receiving station can cost up to $20,000. A tavern could easily absorb that cost, but it may be a little steep for most homeowners. There is also the little matter about the licencing power of the federal government over cable systems, TV and radio stations, and the demands that in exchange for a licence, they must provide Canadian content, use Canadian employees and so on. Canadian content was one of the neatest buzz words of the 1970s. But one can't help but wonder about its importance these days. There are some who say it is high time the federal government got out of electronic regulating completely. Instead of dictating what goes on the air and what does not, the government should leave that decision up to the ultimate critic: the consumer. Candian content, if it is good, will not suffer. If it is no good, all the regulations in the world won't save it from the oblivion it deserves. Star welcomes readers letters Like any community_newspaper, the Port Perry Star welcomes letters to the editor from our readers. The letters column gives readers the chance to have théir say on just about any topic, providing it is not outside the bounds of good taste, libel or slander. However, the Star must insist that all letters for publication contain the writer's full name, address and telephone number, so that in certain instances we are able to verify the authenticity of the letter and identify the writer. It is not our policy to publish letters which are unsigned or signed with nom-de-plum. However, under very unusual circumstances, the ditor and publisher may make an exception to this policy.