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A SET TT RL ee 6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. February 21, 1984 letters Ratepayer replies to former Reeve Dear Sir: A recent letter by Jack Coulson, Valentia reminded me of an incident involving Township employees (Mariposa) that | brought to his personal attention by telephone September 4, 1980. He was Reeve of Mariposa Township at the time. It had to do with wood being removed from a tree growing on my pro- perty that had blown onto my roadside fence. It was taken while | was away from home for a few hours. The wood re- moved was not from any ordinary tree, it is referred to as "Curly Maple', a wood used in the making of violins, which is rarely found and used in my hobby of ~ violin making. To buy a piece to make even one violin is very expensive. Since Mr. Coulson's letter appeared in the paper, I phoned him up again and asked him if he still remembered my phone call re the wood What' S happening to Queen St.? gro this - A family takes a Friday night drive to a small town that they have visited in the summer and found the most interesting stores on Queen Street. 'They were surprised to find 90 per cent of the stores closed. They were sure that there must have been some- thing akin to a major disaster to have closed s0 many because, as everyone knows, the whole world is open Friday nights. They go through the whole process the following Friday night Attention Seniors Dear Sir: This being Ontario's 200th birthday, there are many special acitivites to celebrate this 'Bicentennial. One official activity is called "Partners Look- ing Back." The idea of integrating children with Seniors has been a long-time inten- tion of mine. This "Part- ners" program has en- couraged me to go ahead with it immediately. I would like to invite any Senior Citizen to visit our class anytime. It's a small class of 13 children (age 8-12). We do reading, mathematics and spelling in the mor- nings. In the afternoon we do arts, crafts, and woodworking. Most of us are doing oil paintings to "Honour Ontario." We are encouraging both one-time visits and/or repeated ones. Maybe a Senior, has something to "show and tell' or a child will share and discuss something with one of them. Seniors! We hope to see you soon. Other readers, please en- courage or assist a Senior to respond. Visiting hours- Daily 9:00 to 3:00 Monday to Friday. Sincerely, Mrs. Marla Gill Prince Albert School Portable Two 985-2877. Ratepayer responds (From page 5) available for public inspection. If we had freedom of information and could have inspected these books this particular incident would have come to light much sooner. It had to be by the criminal investi- gation branch that this was uncovered, thus the delayed time. No crim- inal charge is ever laid without strong evidence. In the minutes record- ed by the Clerk, Town- ship of Mariposa, July 18th 1977 under "Policy" it states the following - No employee to work on own vehicle on township property. Come, Mr. Coulson, don't give us this bluff that it was while helping a high salaried M.T.C. employee 'with diffi- culties" that brought Mr. Starr into court. There were two garages close by where these repairs could have been done. A man of Hugh Haw- thorne's financial status and receiving mileage doesn't need to have his ~vork done where the parts come at a dis- count. To have returned a second time, in 1981 to have a similar repair done in the Mariposa Township garage, with no cost for labour, it looks as though the "price was right" with the Mariposa rate- payers being the loser. When you speak of justice, Mr. Coulson, it is a subject not to be taken lightly and all ratepayers of Mariposa Township are entitled to fair and equal treat- ment whether by the road superintendent or the Municipal Council. This we have not been able to ascertain from information we have on hand. Yours truly, Colin M. Campbell, Ratepayer, Mariposa Township. EDITOR'S NOTE: The Star also received a letter from Cecil Crumb of R.R.1, Oakwood on the same subject. It re- counts initally all the points made in the other two letters. stores, and were met by the same closed doors. They went into one store and asked why. The owner had no answer for them but did a very fast tele- phone survey. Of 12 stores called on Queen Street, only 2 were open for business at 8:15 p.m. That family from now on will no doubt shop elsewhere. This is not an isolated incident but one that is becoming increasingly obvious to the public and they are telling their friends and neighbours. We all know what "word-of-mouth" advertising can do to, and for, a business. We all realize that we live in a free enterprise society, but by the same token if we don't all cooperate by keeping our stores open Friday nights this town could very well join other "has-been" commun- ities and that will put our businesses in jeo- pardy and we take exception to that. Perhaps it is time for all the merchants to come together at a meeting and hammer out some standard- ization of hours of business and stick to them. Some Thursday evenings we have few customers but those few we do have in tell their friends and very soon Thursday evening puts as many pennies in the coffers as goes in on Friday evenings. Sure it takes time, but it's worth it when that one person comes through your door and smiles and says, "thank good- ness you're open tonight' as they pur- chase that much needed item. Marion Murray Ingredients Unlimited Port Perry Dangerous at school crossing Dear Sir: I am pleased to see some steps being taken to correct the extremely dangerous situations that exists at the school crossings. Last week I went to the crossing behind R.H. Cornish to meet my son. I shudder to think of what I saw. The school buses come with- in a foot of the pathway the children walk" on. Another problem arises when the buses turn onto the highway. After school, fifteen buses exit here. When the east bound buses turn left the rear end of the bus comes dangerously close to the children, but more dangerous are the west bound buses turn- ing right. These buses must turn very sharp to get in the right lane. When | was there three of these buses jumped the curb while turning. After seeing the tire cracks in the snow on the sidewalk, I am surprised there hasn't been a serious accident. Unfortunately a lot of children don't like the long walk up the hill to the crossing or the danger of the buses. The parents of these children have given their permission for their children to cross the highway without the benefit of a school cross- ing. I feel that if the cross- ing was moved from behind the school, to Ottawa Street or in front of the Catholic school it would solve the problem of the long walk for the children and the danger of the school buses. To move the crossing from the traffic lights at 7A and Lilla Street would make it much safer for the guard and the children. In the crossings old location, the guard has to stop traffic moving in two directions. At the lights she must stop traffic from four directions. I feel it would be much easier for the guard to control the traffic from the old location. Yours truly, Valerie Robinson NEED PHOTO COPIES? We can do them for you! PORT PERRY STAR 235 Queen Street 985-7383 on September 4, 1980, and he admitted he did, but added he thought I would have forgotten about it by now. On March 3rd, 1980 I was one of a delegation that approached Council. One of the questions asked was "what was the practice when wood was cut on the roadside, and who got the first chance of having this wood?" Mr. Coulson's reply was: wood was offered to the adjacent land owner, if he wished to take it. Council was informed at that time this was not done for Christopher Dale, having himself seen Township employ- -ees take wood from road-front property on a previous occasion. On finding the wood removed on my return home, (Sept. 4, 1980), I called the Ontario Hydro since I had known Hydro had inspected their lines previous to this happen- ing. The foreman stated Hydro crews are not allowed to remove wood. In conversation with a neighbour, I was told my wood was cut, load- ed and removed by two Mariposa Township employees with a Town- ship gravel truck. With this information I phoned the O.P.P. and was told to contact the Reeve, which I did and was told by Mr. Coulson, "he would investigate. The following morning, Sept. 5, 1980, Gordon Starr, Road Superinten- dent, came to my farm to talk with me and stated "'I don't want any charge laid'. When I asked Mr. Starr just to bring my wood back, he replied, "I can't, it is all piled in another per- son's woodshed." We had a gentlemen's agreement to have half a load of wood replaced. To date, Feb. 6, 1984, this wood has not been received. Mr. Coulson, in this incident, who do you charge? The Township of Mariposa or the employees who cut the wood and removed it, or the road superintendent or the foreman from whom road department employees take their directions? I agree with Mr. Coul- son one hundred percent when he speaks of justice, but do you not think everyone is entitl- ed to it? Council members are 'servants' of a Munici- pality not it's 'master' they have a duty to see that all ratepayers with- in the Township are dealt with honestly and fairly. Yours very truly, W. Christopher Dale, R.R. 1, Oakwood. chatterbox (continued) seems to be so common-place in the game now. Even though I wonder now if the partial mask to protect the eyes and mouth-guard for the teeth might not serve the same purpose as the full cage in guarding against serious injury, I don't really think I would like to advocate that midget, juvenile or junior players stop wearing the full cage. A broken jaw or cheek-bone is very serious. However, I find the amount of sticks to the head and face disgusting in the game these days This has hurt the sport, in my opinion. A kid can go out on the ice, flatten an opponent with a cross- check to thie face and serve a two minute penal- ty, sometimes a five-minute major if the infrac- tion is really blatant. It is a perplexing problem in minor hockey these days. We have an innovation which has prevented serious injury, but in my opinion has also created some serious problems in the way the game is played. Possibly the answer is an automatic suspen- sion for any player who high-sticks, cross-checks, slashes or elbows an opponent above the shoulders, and an even longer suspension for spearing or butt-ending to the head or face. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I've seen too many good hockey games totally ruined when the players start "putting the lumber' to the other guys' heads. DISTINCTIVE WEDDING INVITATIONS Contact our office for complete details. the Stor 235 Queen St., Port Perry Call 985-7383