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i id i A CTR | ry io the S PORT PERRY STAR CO (WTHTED 235 QUEEN STREET PO 8OA SO PORT PERRY ONTARIO LO8 nO 410) 98% 138) [2 | en cn . GE 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 CATHY ROBB Port Perry Star Co. Ltd , Port Perry, Ontario News & Features 198A LIT VAN So MMUN Authorized as second class mail by the Post Otfice 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° © 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. PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 26, 1985 -- 5 letters Bigelow Street house flooding Dear Sir: It sometimes takes an unexpected event of serious financial propor- tions, to point out the vulnerability of a home to the elements of weather. In your Tuesday, February 16, 1985, edi- tion on page one you reported serious flooding at a Bigelow Street home. On Tuesay, March No RIAA I a a Cina UC nett GR tits i " a uo i i remember when? # 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 26, 1925 Mr. Jas. Ryan who was operating a sawing machine at the farm of Mr. William Tummond had his right hand injured badly. This little incident was stated as being positively true. Folks in Prince Albert coming home from church saw a remarkable sight, and when investigated by one citizen of few words and great courage, found a woodpecker perched on a stone, striking fire with his bill and holding his feet to the sparks to get warm. Mr. George Collins has bought the Heal pro- perty which has been lying idle for a few years. After the necessary repairs he intends to make it his home. : : Mr. Art Prentice moved his barbering business to new premises in the Leonard Block, on Queen Street. that first drink." the east coast. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 23, 1950 Marion Forester, a Grade 9 student at Port Perry High School was awarded first prize in an essay contest sponsored by the United Church Women's Association for Oshawa Presbytery. The essay entitled, "What may happen to me if I take Repairs are being made to Nestleton Com- munity Hall by Mr. Ivan Mairs. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are taking over the store in Prince Albert from the present owners, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Harper. Mr. Grant and Sam Naples attended the trade convention in Montreal. Mrs. George Freeman left this week on the Queen Mary for a visit to England for a few weeks. Mr. Alan Fowler has been accepted in the Royal Canadian Navy and will leave this week for 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 24, 1960 Local dancers attending the Canadian Dance Teacher's Association in Toronto were Darlene McDonald, Lynda Dawe and Jean Bright. An early morning fire caused much damage (Turn to page 6) 5, 1985, you published a letter to the Editor from Mr. W. S. Buchanan of Bigelow Street who com- mented on the personal hardship caused by flooding to his neighbour. On Tuesday, March 12th, you published a letter from officers of the Port Perry Volunteer Fire Dept. indicating that they felt the Fire Dept. was unfairly accused of refusing to pump out the flooded basement. As a person directly in- volved with attempting to mimimize the damage to the flooded home, I wish to make a number of observations. 1. It is apparent that until now many citizens in the Port Perry area were unaware of the Council decision ten years ago relative to Fire Dept. unavailability to pump out flooded basements. 2. If snow had not been piled up by public or privately owned snow removal units in the manner which it was, the Not necessary Dear Sir: As a subscriber to the Port Perry Star, I'd like to comment on the arti- cle written by Cathy Robb and published in the Star, page 12, March 12, 1985 '"The Startling Tale of Maxine Pedlar." First I would like to say I didn't know Miss Pedlar. I never remember seeing her. My remarks are based entirely on the article as it was printed. The writer, Cathy Robb, either lacks maturity or sensitivity. With the exception of . paragraph three, I find no fault with the report on the actual accident. It was serious, a lady (Miss Maxine Pedlar) was in- stantly killed. The police called etc. etc. That took about a column and a half including Miss Pedlar's scholastic achievements. The other five and a half columns were taken by starting with day one of Miss Pedlar"s life covering some of the highlights of fifty-six (Turn to page 6) culvert in question would not have been blocked. 3. As we all recall, the weekend temperature was above freezing and rains were continuous and moderately heavy throughout the evening of Saturday, February 23rd, and well into the morning of Sunday, February 24th. Many people experienced minor flooding of one sort or another in the Port Perry area which they were able to handle by ordinary means. In this instance the flooding was extra-ordinary and far beyond the capacity of the two sump pumps installed in the base- ment. Water did not enter by underground seepage. The basement was flooded by surface water from Bigelow (Turn to page 6) THE BEER STRWCE ISOVER T THE CORMNER STORE LIKE ER CWILIZED PLAC ES 2 | So wort NTN i AGAIN HOW COME. WE CAN'T BUY Ir STARDAZE LAGER ill smiley &£° MUNICIPAL POLITICS local town council. There are 39 numbered pages of legal inanities, and about an equal number of pages of maps of the town, equally unintelligible. As 1 said, the mailman delivered it, regardless of expense. A dozen kids could have covered the town in two hours, or stuffed them in the sewer. Despite my wide experience as a municipal coun- cillor or perhaps because of it, this by-law completely baffles me. The first thirteen pages are definitions. They tell If you have never been involved in municipal politics, you should have a go. Run for anything from dog-catcher to mayor. If you lose, it will be good for your ego. If you win, it will be good for your humility. I speak, as always, from personal experience. For two years I served on a town council. It was il- luminating, if not very enlightening. I was elected, of course, by acclamation. As was everybody else on the council. So keen were the citizens to serve that some years, on nomination eve, we had to go down to the pub, drag a couple of characters out, and guide their hands while they signed up. When I was elected, I was present as a reporter. There were only five other people in the council chambers, so it was decided that I would be elected as the necessary sixth. Sincé I had already served on the executives of various moribund organizations which had died forthwith, I agreed. It didn't die, as I'd hoped. The next year we were all re-elected. By acclamation. It was pretty heady stuff, at first. As a partner in a printing plant, and a newspaperman, I was im- mediately appointed Chairman of the Printing, Adver- tising and Public Relations Committee of council. This meant that our firm automatically received the contract for the town's printing and advertising which we already had. The public relations part meant that I'had to stop suggesting in the paper that the town council was made up of nitwits, nincompoops and nerds. Another chap, with a pretty good heating and plum- bing business, was named Chairman of the Interior Municipal Modification Committee Heating and plumbing. A third, who had a tractor, a backhoe and a snowplow, was appointed Chairman of the Public Works Department. He immediately introduced a by-law rais- ing the rates per hour of such equipment. It passed, four. to two. The opposition was from another councillor, a retired farmer, who also had a tractor and a threshing machine, which he thought could be converted to plow- ing snow. His brother-in-law voted with him. But these moments of power and glory soon faded. The conflict of interest became apparent, and there was no way out for a man of honour except to resign. It took me only two years to reach that conclusion. You may think that a fair time, but it's not easy to walk away from a $75.00 a year stipend. The mayor made $150.00. As a reporter, I had been more interested in the con- flicts than the interests. I had delightedly heard, and printed, one councillor call another councillor a "gib- bering old baboon." And watched the victim of the pe- jorative, a stripling of 78, invite the name-cailer outside, stripping of his jacket during the exchange. Cooler heads prevailed. It was thirty-four below outside. Well, as you can see, as a member of that august body, the Town Council, I couldn't print that sort of thing. I had to report that the two councillors 'had a difference of opinion." When I wrote that phrase and had to omit that one of the councillors was obviously in his cups, I knew I had to quit. All of this is a preamble to a thickish document 1 got in the mail the other day. It is a by-law printed and dispersed (at what enormous cost I shudder) by our us what is a lot, a yard (front) and yard (rear), a garage, a building. They also inform the ignorant citizenry what a school is, a person, a restaurant, a motel, a boarding-house. All alphabetically. There was no mention of "brothel" under the B's. The by-law tells us how high our fences or hedges can be. It tells us how high our houses can be. How many square metres of floor space we must have if we decide to ask Auntie Mabel, crippled with arthritis, to share our dwelling. How many parking places we need for each establishment. Again no mention of either brothels or bootleggers. For most of the document, the by-law dwells in metres, squared and decimaled. I know very few peo- ple over thirty who would know a metre from a maskinonge. Somebody on the council must have cor- nered the market on metre sticks. ~ Then this baffling by-law moves into "hectares." What the heck is a hectare? To me, it's an ancient French (Canadian) piece of land about as accurate as an acre, which nobody understands either. Here's an example: "RM2 uses are permitted as specified to a maximum of 550 persons per hectare." Is it a square mile? Is it a "'H'!acre' wit' an accent? This is crazy. When I was a councillor, we could knock off three or four by-laws in a meeting, and everybody understood them. 'Moved and seconded that there shall be no loitering in the cemetery, except by those who are among the dead, not the quick." That sort of thing. # (Turn to page 7) ~~