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ve etters He Not enough French instruction Dear Sir: Core french in our schools is every parents concern. Durham Region is NOT even keeping up with the minimum recommended number of hours, over a students school years, to achieve basic competency. The Ministry of Educa- tion recommends a MINIMUM of 1200 hours over a childs school career. At present a Durham student, who takes french until the end of grade 13, only receives 900 hours. Many students do not continue french in the higher grades, therefore falling even further below the minimum requirements. Our students are at a DISADVANTAGE if they should move into another board's area. Our neighbouring board of York provides 40 minutes per day beginn- ing at Grade 1. Durham provides only 20 minutes per day beginning at Grade 4. Also caught in this in- equality are our teachers. Consider teachers who must in- terest a class, some of whom have come from other areas and have a higher level of competen- cy, yet are the same grade level. The range in a class with even a few students from other areas makes it difficult to challenge and interest ALL members of the class. v A report will be issued to the Durham Board soon by Mr. Bob Abrey (French Consultant) with recommendations (Turn to page 6) PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. December 11, 1984 --§ stor =z © PORT PERRY STAR CO LIMITED 139 Quin STREET PO #010 POR! ORY ONTARIO LO8 WO . (410) 985.738) ( OC) hes -- | cn J. PETER HVIDSTEN = Publisher Advertising Manager Member of the J.B. McCLELLAND Canadian Community Newspaper Association . Editor and Ontario Community Newspaper Association. Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry S CATHY ROBB r rry Star Co. Ltd , Port Perry, Ontario News & Features Pan ao At COMMUN Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department -Ottawa, and for cash payment of postage in cash A Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $15.00 per year. Elsewhere $45.00 per year. Single copy 35* © COPYRIGHT -- All layout and composition of advertisements produced by the advertising department of the Port Perry Star Company Limited are protected under copyright and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers. remember when? . 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 18, 1924 Warden George McMillan was made the recipient of a gold headed cane at the closing of the sessions of the Coun- ty Council. At a recent session of the County Council, the annual grant of $175.00 was made to the Agricultural Department of the Port Perry High School. On a motion from Mr. Frank Dowson at the Scugog Council meeting the Reeve and Councillors were granted $12.00 each for services during the past year, and owing to the increase in work of the Clerk-Treasurer, he was this year granted $150 for his services. D. Corbman advertising read 'One thousand pounds of candies of about 50 different kinds, ranging in price from 25 cents to 80 cents per pound. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 15, 1949 The car donation hy Mr. Harold Archer to raise money for the Recreation Centre in Port Perry was drawn at a special event at the High School. An Oshawa man, Mr. Steve Reminik was the winner. Mr. Art Brunton was Master of Ceremonies for the evening. Mrs. Fred Ballard was elected president of the Utica Women's Association with Mrs. George Mitchell as Vice- president. A very impressive Vesper Service was held in the United Church by the C.G.1.T. Girls, under the leadership of Miss Joblin. "Mrs. Walter Brown picked pansies in her garden on December 12, 1949. A district Ski Social was held at Sky Loft Lodge. It is hoped that a district committee can be organized to con- sider the possibility to hold a district ski meet this winter. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 17, 1959 The Lions Club held their annual Christmas party and Ladies Night at the Flamingo Restaurant, and all enjoyed a turkey dinner provided by J.J. Gibson. Mr. John Wilde was engaged as the Skating Club pro- fessional to teach the skaters. The Women's Hospital Auxiliary netted over $500.00 with their Doll Draw this year. The profit will be approx- imately $350.00. At the Ontario Crop and Soil Association meeting, a scholarship award was made to Lloyd Wilson, the high judge in the Ontario County Annual Seed Judging Competi- tion, and Mr. Keith Bacon was chosen to represent Ontario County at the Junior Farmers Land Use Tour in August. Mrs. Murray Holtby was elected president of Prospect U.C.W. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 17, 1964 Bro. N.P. Aldred was installed as Worshipful Master of Fidelity Lodge AF & AM, Port Perry. Mr. Ed Mulholland was elected president of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 419. Peel's Broiler Breeder sales have reached 35 per cent of all broiler breeder sales in Canada, which means one out of every three broiler chickens retailed in Canada are Peel's. LAC James L. Hunter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Hunter received a suggestion award while stationed with the RCAF in Coldlake, Alberta. Representing the County in the Junior Farmers Debating contest this year from Port Perry was Neil McLeod and Bob Barlow. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 18, 1969 The new offices of the Manchester Credit Union were broken into on Thursday night. Burglars entered the building by breaking a back door window, and then tried to break into the vault by using acetylene torches stolen from Brooklin Concrete Products. The thieves were unsuc- cessful, but did cause some internal damage. Robbie Croxall and Tina Ruhl, grade seven students at Epsom Public School, were chosen to play the lead parts in a film entitled "The Children On The Land." Filming took part for an entire week at the school and in the Croxall and Ruhl homes, and is about the life of children in rural areas as compared to those children in the city. The story was written by local person, Nancy McNeill of Utica. 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, December 18, 1974 Three original Jimmy Frise drawings were purchas- ed by the Scugog Shores Museum for the sum of $500 from Mr. Ed Goss, who had known the artist as a young lad work- ing as a copy boy for the Toronto Star. Mr. Goss had adver- tised the drawings for sale to the highest bidder, but when he found out they would go into a museum in the area Frise had lived as a young man, he accepted the lower museum bid and presented them to Mr. Al Bertrand. The business section of Port Perry were without water for about 12 hours after a water valve on Perry Street burst. Several basements in the area were flooded because of the leak. Mrs. Margaret Wilbur was elected president of the On- tario New Democratic Party Association at their annual general meeting. This is her third term as president of the local association. bill smiley TURKEY FOR ALL With your kind of permission, I'll tell you a little Christmas story this week. We'll call it: "Turkey for Easter." In my own hometown, when I was a boy, a Turkey Fair was held every winter, shortly before Christmas. There was a district north of the town that was poor far- ming land. It was rough and rocky, like some parts of the Bruce Peninsula, and its inhabitants had a difficult time scraping a living out of the inhospitable land. So most of them grew turkeys. They'd let them run prac- tically wild through the year, then bring them to town for the Turkey Fair. The main street would be lined with sleighs, cutters and old cars, all piled high with turkeys for sale. Buyers would come from the cities, and the townspeople would all be out to pick up their Christmas fowl. As a result, the town street would be crowded. Jingling sleigh-bells, scurrying people, filled with the Christmas spirit, and crowds of turkey farmers and their families, with the sharp-faced buyers from Mon- treal and Ottawa scuttling to get the best birds for the least money, made it an exciting day for the town's youngsters, and quite a few of us didn't show up at school that day. I'll never forget one Turkey Fair, when I was about twelve years old. It was right in the middle of the depression. As usual, the street was lined with turkey farmers selling their wares, by nine o'clock in the mor- ning. This was the big day of the year for them. The rest of the year, they barely managed to make ends meet. But when they had sold their turkeys, they were rich for a day. Some of them would have as much as thirty or forty dollars, a lot of money in those days. This was for them. It meant that children would have something for Christmas, that Mother might get a new dress, or pair of shoes, that Father could have a few beers and maybe buy some shells for his gun, and that their credit at the store could be sustained. They were terribly poor. Well, this one year, something happened. At the time, I had no idea what it was, but it was probably a glut of fowl on the market, and too many people without money to buy turkey for Christmas. At any rate, the Turkey Fair was an utter failure. Only a few buyers showed up, a lot of the townspeople simply did not have any money, and were living on credit, and the farmers could not get rid of their turkeys. At first they were selling a few for outrageously low prices, twelve or thirteen cents a pound, instead of the usual eighteen to twenty-five. But by noon the turkey farmers were nearing panic. They were running around with a turkey in each hand, canvassing houses, trying to sell them for seven and eight cents a nd. By four o'clock in the afternoon, the full extent of the tragedy had been revealed. Women stood by their sleigh-loads of turkeys, with the tears streaming down their faces, and three or four of their children, cold and hungry wailing in sympathy. The men's faces showed anger, fright and bewilderment. It was a bitter day for them. It meant that instead of a Christmas full of warmth and happiness, they were faced with a Christmas bleak with despair, lacking everything that usually made it good, as well as a cheerless winter ahead, existing by the barest of margins. It was a shambles. Turkeys were hurled into the street and trampled on by bitter, frustrated men. Others spent their last fifty cents for a bottle of cheap wine and got drunk. The people of the town looked grave, sym- pathetic, worried. Even the heavens wept, and a downpour of freezing rain fouled the white snow and in- creased the general misery. I don't think I have ever felt more sad and depress- ed than I did that day, child though I was. When I got home, I wanted to spill all my feelings to my mother, but one look at her face told me she knew. She went about her work with that intense fury that always possessed her when she was trying to hide her feelings, and I knew better than to start babbling. A while later my Dad came in with a long face, and he and my mother held one of those low-voiced con- claves that drive cufious children crazy. Then he went back outside. My mother looked a little less harassed. Then the rest of the family began coming in, my young brother started horsing around, and with the tough in- difference of a youngster, I almost forgot about the turkey farmers and their despair, in the babble of the family. When my dad got home, we all sat down to supper. In those days, you ate supper at suppertime, in our cir- cle. Mother and Dad still looked pretty grave, but not so bad as before, and we kids were all talking at once, as usual. We had hamburg for Supper. I was feeling a bit disgruntled with my parents for being so serious and uncommunicative, so, probably to attract attention, I said: 'Hamburg, hamburg, hamburg: We're always eating hamburg. Aren't we ever going to eat anything else around here?" You know how a kid will say things like that. We did have a lot of hamburg, but I liked it. My mother gave me one look, got up, took me by (Turn to page 6)