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H EN en A -- . na a SVE a RRB RS yi Wiad i 0 Wier BRAN Bonnie Solomon, the first victim In the darkest hours of the graveyard shift, a woman lies pro- ne in her bed, wide awake. The moonlight spills into a silky pool on the floor, illuminating her secret stash, her only addiction. She should be sleeping, she knows this, but all she can think about is her drugs. Her heartbeat rages within her chest as she fights the urge for another fix, but she is helpless to control herself. She reaches stealthily under the bed, trying desperately not to wake her husband. Her hand searches blindly for the stash, finding instead a dust-covered sock, an old book and, finally, what she needs. Excitement builds up in her throat like a sponge as she pulls up the paper bag like some buried treasure, opens it up, and slips her hand inside. With great, satisfying relief she produces a thick, fresh, chocolate chip engorged cookie , and like a thief, she steals half of it in a single gulp. But she can't stop there. Before she regains sanity, she has swallow- ed half a dozen cookies. Aghast, she puts the bag back under the bed and reaches for the Dustbuster she keeps on her night table. Furtively she sweeps up the crumbs, wipes off her mouth and settles back into bed. She looks fond- ly at her husband, relieved he hasn't woke up. Strike that, he has woke up, and he's looking straight at her. "What's it gonna be, baby," he drawls. "The cookies, or me? There's not enough room in this town for us both." She thinks for a minute. "I'll pack your bags tomorrow," she says sweetly, and drops off into an untroubled dream of a land fill- ed with cookies. sos This is a serious news story, all about the hundreds, maybe thousands, of chocolate chip cookie junkies in the Port Perry area. It's a fearsome disease, with all the symptoms of an acid freak, that can attack full-grown adults at a single taste. The cookies in question aren't your average cookies, either. They're available in Port Perry at only one store, Dowson's Valu-Mart, and they're produced by Loblaw's. To most supermarket shoppers, they're known as President's Choice Classics, but to the hundred of ad- dictees, they're known as the fix. Bonnie Solomon, a cashier at Dowson"s, was one of their first vic- tims. A friendly, outgoing person, she was once only a social chocolate chip cookie eater, but once she tasted the Classics, loaded with pecans as well as chips, she was hooked. The cookies were trucked into Dowson"s about a year ago, which didn't impress Bonnie at all -- at first. Her downfall came as a result of a regular little visitor, a boy nam- . ed Graham whom she always of- fered treats. '""One day he came in and asked me if I wanted a treat. He had this cookie, so, I mean, how can you turn down a kid with a cookie?" she recalls. 'And the taste, well, it was INCREDIBLE. I said, "GRAHAM, where did you GET this cookie?" Graham merely pointed to the display of Classics sitting demure- ly across the aisle from Bonnie's till. "That cookie was SO good," she says, looking like she could do with a fix. "I told someone about it and they told someone else and so on, and so on. Now everyone around here (the store) is addicted. One bag just isn't enough." Bonnie buys two bags every week, one for her family and the other strictly for herself. She hides this bag in various places but likes the Dutch oven at the back of one of her cupboards, because it is rarely used. YOUR INVITATION TO CELEBRATE OUR 25th ANNIVERSARY -- and -- A special 12 hour program designed to acquaint you with the expanded product lines, resulting from the merger of Allis- Chalmers and Deutz-Fahr. You will learn about leadership and technology from two worlds. -- AND -- You could win the use of a new Deutz-Allis tractor for 100 hours through June 30, 1986. BLACKSTOCK RECREATION CENTRE MONDAY, APRIL 7th at 8:00 P.M. SHARP SEE WHAT SETS READ BAL US APART! ALLIS TREWIN FARM EQUIPMENT BLACKSTOCK 986-4283 '25 Years of Service" And because the bag is in the kit- chen, where she often finds herself working, it's easy to sneak a few here and there. Eating them in bed is another favourite, but she can only do this" when her husband is working nights. A helpful hint, she points out, is to have a Dustbuster close at hand to pick up give away crumbs. And never, never, she stresses, leave empty bags lying under the bed where other people can find One day she had some help vacuuming and the central vacuum came away from under the bed with a Classics bag suctioned on the end of it. She was mortified, to say the least. through 25 cases of cookies each week. A case holds 12 bags. Each bag holds approximately three ° dozen cookies. That's an astounding 10,800 cookies sold every week! Bonnie calls these cookie monsters part of her unofficial Cookie Club, of which she is a pro- ud, yet somewhat guilty, member. Yes, she DOES feel guilty about her addiction and she is worried about what is might do to her hips, but she's not yet willing to give her « cookies up. The same goes for co-workers . Sandy Benns, who also confesses to cookie-itis. But Sandy isn't the only fanatic in her family. "When I reach into the bag I think there's still a lot of cookies left, but my daughter leaves the top row full and takes all the other cookies underneath," Sandy says. Both Sandy and Bonnie are selfi about their cookies. "It's awful, because I won't share them," Bonnie admits. "I have teenagers and if I share them, they're gone. And it's not just me who won't share, it's all mothers.' The cookie situation is getting serious. Many questions arise. What happens, for example, if the com- pany stops making them? Will the cookie junkies find another brand or go into withdrawal? Will a Cookies Anonymous have to be formed, or what? : "If there is, I'll be the first to join,"' Bonnie says. With a mouthful of cookie. CHESTERFIELD SUITES - LOVE SEATS SECTIONALS - MATTRESSES -- A Large Selection -- LESS THAN 3 i 1/2 PRICE! McKEEN FURNITURE 524 Simcoe St. S., Oshawa - 725-5181 Bonnie figures the store goes | PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, April 1,'1986 -- 1§ \ prs a Town falls under spell of wicked addiction Sandy Benns (left) and Bonnie Solomon dig into a bag of their favourite addiction. For more on problem, see story. Port Perry's most light-hearted Parents and kids learn about their computers Parents and Pre-schooler com- puter fun at the library. This course is designed to acquaint and instruct parents and their pre-schoolers with the Commodore 64 computer and some of the software programs that are available in the Library. The first class will be for the parents on- ly at the computers while the children do some preparatory com- puter play, have a film and a story. Parents will become familiar with thie basic use of the computer and the 'how to's' of using it with their child. The succeeding weeks will be parent and child learning together. Please contact the Library if you are interested in this course -- Mrs. McColl or Mrs. LeRoy, 985-7686. The Library is the proud owner of Commodore 64 computers which are available for public use. The support of this project by the Minister of Citizenship and Culture is grateful- ly acknowledged. To date many young people have availed themselves of the computers, but to increase their use, the Library is planning three programs in April. + These will be for pre-schoolers and parent, learning to use LOGO, and a computer club after school. Please watch 'Coming Events' for further information or phone the Library -- Mrs. McColl or Mrs. LeRoy, 985-7686. 'TURMBERG KENNELS Boarding of Dogs & Cats SPRING TRAINING CLASS begins APRIL 1st, 1986. Soft water is a solution to many houschold problems Families sometimes live with a problem for so long they forget there's a solu- tion. Take hard water, for example. According to the Canadian Water Quality Association, about 80 percent of the country has hard water The solution is simple: an automatic softener that softens the water before it enters the piping system. These are among the advantages of softened water: 1 Housework becomes easier, whether it's scrubbing floors, doing dishes or washing clothes - Clothes and linens come out brighter and they have longer lives Dishes, silverware, etc. have more luster There's none of the water spotting that occurs when water 1s hard and soap isn't really entirely rinsed off Hair 1s more lustrous and manageable after a shampoo You feel befter after a bath because there's no soap residue left on the skin. Coffee. tea. vegetables and other foods tate better and even look better. The hfe of your pipe and water using equipment 1s prolonged because there 1S no mineral scale build up For more information on Water Treatment contact: BROOKLIN WATER CONDITIONING INC. 53 Baldwin Street, Brooklin, Ontario oss noney B55-3600 or B55-4936 655 8989) and ask for information about Kinetico" world famous non-electric water softeners. LOW MONTHLY RENTALS. wn NOUS 655-4721