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letters Reader calls argument weak Dear Sir: Regarding your editorial 'Metric Boon- doogle". Of all argru- ments against using the metric system, surely the one favouring the sale of gasoline in gallons has to be the weakest. I venture to say that the majority of motorists at the gas pumps usually say "Fill'er up" or ask for so many dollars worth. I wonder if those motor- ists who buy by the gallon when driving in the U.S. insist on being served in Imperial gallons. I suspect the men are selling gasoline by the gallon are more interested in trying to embarrass the Govern- ment rather than from any up-lifting motive regarding the public. As I understand it a "White Paper' was pre- sented in 1970 to the Canadian Parliament recommending that at sometime in the future Canada should adjust to metric system. In 1976 (I believe) the Govern- ment decided to put it through Parliament. Whether the opposition was remiss or asleep, it was passed. I have never read of any official opposition. It has always been my contention we should have adopted the metric system years ago at the same time we abandon- ed the ridiculous pound, shillings and pence system. The dollar and cents system relates to metric inasmuch as it is used in units of ten, etc. It is true that there are more pressing needs (Turn to page 6) LA RE A I BLY MTR TCR Hs det LY ARE AS RY Ta BF 34 "os ¥ he v o) ' i) ; ite BSA] Yt A RIALS VHS 44h SAC Ey eh PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. November 15, 1983 -- 5 St PORT PERRY STARR CO LUTHTED 133 QUEEN STREET (+cna J PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager J.B. McCLELLAND Editor AD M ort 3 ne PO BOX 90 PORT PERRY ONTARIO LO8 INO (416) 985-738) oO (549) (= ] Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co Ltd Port Perry. Ontario Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department. Ottawa. and for cash payment of postage in cash Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $15.00 per year. Elsewhere $45.00 per year. Single copy: 35¢ remember when? Hu 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 22, 1923 The Directors of the Port Perry Rink Company have decided to hold a "Tag Day" in aid of the Port Perry Rink, on Christmas Fair Day. Proceeds will go to paying off the $2,000 mortgage held against the rink. Reta Miller won the I.0.D.E. essay contest for essays written by the fourth grade students at Port Perry Public School. Her essay was about Sir Isaac Brock. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 18, 1948 Marilyn Downey, Myrtle, was presented with the Robert Simpson Trophy for winning the highest number of points in the Junior Classes at Oshawa Fair. Mr. & Mrs. Walter Cook of Toronto were in Port Perry recently, renewing old acquaintances. Walter recently received a 50-year pin from the Old England Lodge No. 9, Sons of England. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 20, 1958 Bill Harrison is leaving the staff of the Port Perry Star this week to take up the position of Editor and Publisher of the Times Publishing Company of Colborne Limited. - The Saturday morning Ballet Class accompanied by their teacher Miss Bonnie Crouter, travelled to Oshawa to perform at the Harvey Dance Academy. Lea-Anne Ballard, Brenda Geer and Charlen Bourgeois were among those dancing. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 21, 1963 George Smith, Port Perry, received the Lions Club trophy for winning the 4-H Grain Club project. Eunice Roach, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. Roach, Manchester, was the recipient of the Gold Cord, highest award a girl can obtain through her guiding career. Mrs. Clara Martyn's rink from Port Perry, won the District Ladies Bonspiel held in Oshawa. The Port Perry ladies were Ruth Draper, Margaret Cornish, Camille Crozier and Clara Martyn. They won with 36 3/4 points. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 21, 1968 Show stopper at the Royal Winter Fair, Toronto was Rio Red, the great Santa Gertrudis Bull featured at Expo. A photograph in the Star pictured Joel Aldred of Port Perry and Earl Dyball of Uxbridge standing with the bull. This photograph will be circulated to 48 countries where Santa Gertrudis bulls are being raised. Port Perry Lions Club presented a new stereo to the Senior Citizens Club of Port Perry. During Cartwright Council's regular meeting, Grant Campbell and Larry Matheson were present seeking a grant of $200 for Minor Sports. They stated 62 children were enrolled and gave favourable reports. The $200 was granted. Port Perry High School's Collectors' Club was formed with a small but dedicated group of students, under the direction of President Ray Collins and Staff Advisor Mr. W. Brock. 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, November 21, 1973 A Toronto firm which had been ordered to clean silt which it allegedly dumped into Lake Scugog was granted an extension during the regular meeting of Port Perry council. . People living in Nestleton and Port Perry will be able to get to Oshawa by bus next week as Travelways Bus Lines has announced a change in their routes, now to in- clude passing through Nestleton and Port Perry. The Christmas Tree which has been traditionally placed in front of the Post Office will be put up on the lawn next to the Bank of Commerce this year. Renovations at the Post Office were the Federal Government's reason for not allowing the tree to be placed in the traditional location. Mrs. Jeanne Goode was elected president of the Community Memorial Hospital Ladies' Auxiliary at the annual meeting held in the Municipal Hall. TORCH OF TERRORISM A few years ago I swore I'd never write another col-- umn about Remembrance Day. Not only was it hard on me, emotionally, but I felt that if I continued, I'd start falling into cliches, like throwing the torch to the next generation. Well, we didn't throw them the torch to carry high, and Flanders Fields are old bones now, but the torch is there -- a different kind. The torch, not of gallantry and defending certain ideals, and being prepared to die for them, but the torch of terrorism, vicious hatred of other colours, religions and political systems, and new wars and slaughter in the paper every day. With another Remembrance Day coming up, I must break my promise. An essay by Canadian Hugh MacLennan, called "Remembrance Day -- 2010 AD." reread after ten years, brought home to me once again the utter folly of mankind, and his apparent obsession with destroying his own species. Written in the 1950s, the essay is an ironic warning that is just as valid today as when it was written. With prophetic insight, he saw the arms race building until the human race is in the delicate egg-shell it is today: constant escalation of nuclear weapons, paranoid suspicion of the "enemy," and teetering on the tight-rope of oblivion. He foresaw a space war, which is just over the horizon, if something worse doesn't happen first. We hate to think of it. We go right on, grunging around in our own little world, whining about taxes, beefing about the 'government' and stuffing our guts while half the world or more is literally starving. Most of us are not on hard drugs. But most of us bill smiley are on the soft kind, symbolized by television, which tells us that we'd be happy if we drank this beer, or us- ed that shampoo, or used ever-thinner sanitary napkins, or ate Krinkly-Krak for breakfast. All lies, of course. Subtle, but lies. And othen symbolized by our "leaders" who lie to us until the truth comes up, then lie some more. And do not lead, but follow -- the latest poll. A vote is more important than a good citizen: self-reliant, independent, thinking, Doesn't it turn your guts a bit? It does mine. But, like everyone else, I'm too preoccupied with my busted shoulder, my pension, the constant demands of family, and my own comfort, to face the facts. I remember the first few times I marched in the Legion parade on Remembrance Day. Most of us were in our twenties. We looked with affectionate condescend- sion on the "old guys' veterans of W.W. I. They were in their late 40's and 50's. Now, most of the "old guys" are gone, except for a corporal's guard, and we cocky young strutters are the "old guys." It's depressing but the word that constantly forms in my mind is WHY? Why did millions of young men go through the gruesome, bloody, insane danse macabre of World War 1? Correction: millions of them did not 'go through" it. They left their bones and pus and blood in little foreign places with funny names. And they left nations of weeping women and children. Of course, they died to save democracy. That's what it said. Or, perhaps, because they followed the leader- ship of senile and/or stupid leaders, who thought little of killing 100,000 men to gain a few hundred yards of mud. Why did millions of young men, only two decades later, doit all over again? Of course, they were fighting for freedom from dictatorship, for "our way of life." Same old crap. What was accomplished in two world wars? Tens of millions killed, and the second time around, many of them civilians. It kept down the surplus population, of course. And the tremendous damage to property kept our Western factories humming after each war, replacing what had been destroyed. Is that what it was all about? Have brutality, torture, bloodshed taught mankind any sort of lesson? Obviously not. Korea, Viet Nam, the Middle East, Africa, India, South and Central America, have spawned more killing, more torture, more blood. shed, more two-bit dictators. I don't care how right-wing or red-necked you are. Don't laugh at the peace marches. They seem to be the only thing, however incoherent and ineffective, that sug- gest any sanity in the modern world. I take nothing from the dead of those wars. In the first one, they were my uncles. In the second, they were my comrades. I have a lifelong admiration, even love for them. They really believed in what they were dying for. Let them rest in piece. But from the grumbling graves, as they look down, or up at the insanity of today's arms race, the blind violence, cruelty and viciousness of the world they were "saving," I can hear one question, loud and clear. WHY?