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™ s------ Sad i LS. ~ na IB -- a aR Rv Yesterday's Memories 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 7, 1926 It might be interesting to compare some of the grocery prices of 50 years ago to those of today. James McKee and Son advertises 10 lbs. granulated sugar 63 cents; navel oranges 37 cents per dozen; orange marmalade, 16 oz. 2¥<ents; ground blend coffee 49 cents 1b. There was a great crowd to see :'Charley's Aunt' in the ~ Blackstock Town Hall New Years Eve. The Hall was packed and many had to return unable to buy tickets. The receipts were a record for the Blackstock Hall, $137.00. "'Charley's Aunt" was also shown in the Port Perry Town Hall, but this was a film presentation with Sid Chaplin in the title role. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 4, 1951 302 voters in Reach Township voted in the affirmative in sup- port of the Community Memorial Hospital to the tune of $12,500. 259 voted against. Elected tothe 1951 council were T.H. Harding, Reeve; Harry Phoenix, deputy-reeve; Malcolm Bailey, Elmer J. Gibson and Leslie Smith, councillors. Ernest Hayes was elected reeve in Port Perry, and Dr.M.B. Dy- "mond, Harry Peel, Hugh Santer and Frank Hastings, councillors. The C.M.R.C. committee appointed Mr. Art Brunton in charge of the official opening ceremonies of the Recreation Centre, Friday. Chicken pox, mumps and measles were almost of an epidemic nature as reported by correspondents in Utica and Epsom. 4] 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 5, 1961 Keith Bacon was elected president of Port Perry Junior Farmers for 1961. Bruce Leask was elected vice-president and Morley David- son, secretary-treasurer. As a challenge in order to obtain their Gold Cord, two Port Perry girls, Margaret Ann Witherspoon and Donna Marie Heayn planned and carried out a party for Blackstock Brownie Pack 2 in the Com- munity Hall. Wednesday evening, about 300 residents of Cartwright enjoyed an evenings' entertainment in the Recreation Centre, sponsored by 1961 Council. ; : Port Perry council passed a resolution to have all local firemen covered for $5,000 under the Workman's Compensation Board. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 6, 1966 Three babies were born within seven hours on December 29 at the Community Memorial Hospital. Two boys and one girl competed for being the one closest to New Year, and the winner was the girl, Kimmerly Michele Faulkner, Blackstock. Rev. R. Rose will also assume the responsibilities for St. John's Anglican Church in Blackstock. Rev. Rose arrived in Port Perry Oc- tober 1, 1965, and took charge of the Church of the Ascension. Mr. Leslie Smith of the High Point Farms, Reach Township is to appear on the TV series "This Business of Farming," Tuesday, January 11. : : (Turn to page 6) IN PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, January 7, 1986 -- §. Letters A warm letter from Santa Dear Sir: Christmas should be a time of re- joicing and atime of giving. And even if you have nothing you-can always give yourself and try to con- tinue the Christmas spirit over into 1986. ~ It is unfortunate that the religious aspects of Christmas have become so masked by commercial trappings and the worship of the almighty dollar. There would be no carols, no happy voices, no gifts and no Santa without "Jesus."" Santa is a religious figure too. The orphan son of well-to-do parents in Turkey, he became a Greek Or- throdox Church bishop and also Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors. This Christmas most are lucky, they have children and for some December 25th can be the loneliest ~ day of the year. All year I make my list of boys and girls of all ages. Then a few weeks before Christmas, I visit Nur- Sing Homes, schools, arenas, chur- ches and most concerts in my area. When it is Christmas Eve | dress and with a handful of bells, I start' my rounds with two clowns as helpers We have some inexpensive gifts and candies. The children are so ex- cited when they hear my bells and Arson damages huts Durham Police believe that fires which destroyed one ice hut on Lake Scugog and damaged a second, were set deliberately. The huts, on the ice off Seven Mile Island in the west arm of Lake Scugog were hit by the fires some time New Years Day. Doors on the hu; had been pried open and a lantern is believed to be used to start the fires. The huts were owned by residents of Oshawa. One was completely destroyed, along with a stove. Looking for A Place to Advertise Your Business?? LOOK HERE! Where consumers in ~ need shop for the professionals in business! CALL: 0985-7383 for more information lanterns, fishing gear and other sup- plies to the tune of more than $500. The second hut nearby sustained damage from the blaze. my "'Ho,Ho, Ho's. At the end of the night, as I sit warming myself before the fireplace, I usually have a tear in my eyes because I have so much more to give than they. I am very happy with what I do 'for these children. Their joy is my medicine, whic 1 helps keep me well for the entire ; ear. One year while at Epsom School, a girl told me what she wished for Christmas, later in the day, the same girl told me at-the Port Perry Arena what she wished, again in the evening dressed in her Brownie uniforin she put her hands on her hips and said she had already told me twice today. I turned my head, smiled and said maybe she had forgotten something. She reached out, touched my beard, said you are the real Santa because you have a real beard. ' Season's Greetings, "Santa"' Roy Walker Smith Port Perry, Ontario dh ® 1] "IT LOOKS LIKE THE UTILITY BILL. " THE WORLD OF Bill Smiley Smaller fry are doctors, lawyers, teachers, used car salesmen. They all squeal like dying rabbits when at- tacked, but nobody pays much attention to them except doctors and their wives, etc., etc. There are a few areas that even the hardest-hitters avoid. When have you, lately, read a savage attack on greedy farmers, callous nurses, or unloving mothers? And yet, there are lots of them around. "WRITING PLEASURES One of the deepest satisfactions in writing a column of this kind is the knowledge that you are getting into print the angers and frustrations of a lot of other peo- _ple, who have no recourse for their resentments, and consequently take them out on the old man or the old lady. How do you know this? Well, because people write you letters cheering you on to further attacks, and other people come up to you, perfect strangers, shake hands warmly, and say, 'By the Holy Ole Jumpin! Billy, .you really hit the nail on the head." ; This can be a little disconcerting, as you are never quite sure which nail they are referring to. If the con- gratulator is a woman, I smile weakly and change the subject. Because sure as guns, though she thought you were one of nature's noblemen for your assault on male chauvinism last week, she'll turn on you like a snake, when she reads tomorrow's paper, with the column ex- posing female chauvinism. Speaking recently to a class of potential writers in a creative writing course, I tried to pass along the per- sonal satisfaction one gets from this type of personal journalism. ee : I emphasized the "personal" satisfaction, because there's a lot more of that involved than there is of the other kind, financial satisfaction. Columnists and free- lance writers have no union working for them, nor any professional association, as have doctors, lawyers, teachers. They have only their own talent and wit and perseverance with which to penetrate the thick heads > and thicker skins of editors and publishers. But it's a great feeling when you vent your wrath, say, about the rapaciousness of mechanics, and you are button-holed six times in the next three days by people with horror stories about mechanics you can scarcely believe. Trouble is, they all want you to write another col- umn about mechanics, and put some real meat into it. This means, in effect, that they would happily stand in the wings and applaud when you are sued for libel. Some readers would like you to be constantly at- tacking whatever it is that they don't like. Capitalist friends are aghast when you refuse to launch an assault on capital gains taxes. Welfarist friends think you are a traitor and a fink when you won't attack the govern- ment for not providing colour TV for everyone on the take. I am not by nature an attacker and I think there is nothing more boring than a writer of any kind who tries to make a career of being a "hard-hitting"' journalist. Once in a while my gently bubbling nature boils over. Throwing caution and syntax to the winds, I let my spleen have a field day and try to throw some sand in the grease with which many aspects of society are trying to give us a snow job. And that's one of the finest paragraphs I've ever written, if mixed metaphors are your bag. Fair game for the hard-hitting are: garage mechanics, plumbers, postal workers, supermarkets, civil servants and politicians. Most of them can't hit back, and everybody hates them, except garage mechanics and their wives, plumbers and their wives, etc., etc. 'about Canada and Canadians thr One of these days, perhaps, one of these hard-hitting writers will muster enough guts, after about five bifan- dies, to launch an all-out attack on the aduacity of women, thinking they're as good as men. Boy, that fellow will learn what real hard-hitting is all about. Personaly, I can't stay mad at anybody long en- mough to be a voice of the people, or a public watch dog, or any of those obnoxious creatures who try to tell other people how they should feel. The only constant in my rage is the blatant manipulation of self-seeking politicians who will twist and warp and wriggle and squirm and bribe for self- perpetuation in office. Otherwise, I get a great deal more joy from touching the individual life than inflaming the masses. When I get a letter from an old lady in hospital, crippl- ed with arthritis, who has managed to get a chuckle out of my column, it makes me feel good. Recently, I got a letter from a young Scot who has immigrated to Canada. He says: 'I have learned more reading your col-. umn than all the accumulated wisdom from the Cana- dian newsmagazines, novels and TV programmes I have absorbed." Now there is a man with his head screwed on right. If I, as a newcomer, tried to get my impressions of this country from newsmagazines and TV programs, I'd catch the first boat or plane home. So, I guess I'll just try to go on talking to people, getting sore, having some fun, looking for sympathy in the war between the sexes. That's what life is all about, not plumbers and politicians and other horrors of that ilk. 1