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VS NI a Yesterday's "Memories 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 13, 1926 The Port Perry Board of Education has engaged Mr. John T. Hornsby, Lindsay, as architect for the new school. A number of trustees are visiting the combined High and Public School at - Brighton, with a view to seeing to what extent this type of building will meet the needs of Port Perry. Mr. W.A. Christy has been appointed secretary-treasurer of Port Perry Board of Education at a salary of $200.00 per year. The annual inspection of the High School Cadets took place on Tuesday morning with Capt. Ec vards of M.D. as inspector. Robert Harris was Company Commander, Grant Real and Grant McMillan, Platoon Commander. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 10, 1951 Due to the increase of telephones in Port Perry, a fourth operating position to the switchboard will be installed and in opera- tion by June 30. High Point Echo Supreme, a pure bred Holstein owned by Smith Bros., Port Perry, has qualified for a Blue Seal Certificate for longtime production for records of over 125,000 lbs. of milk. A play entitled 'The Grape Vine' was put on under the auspices of Y.P.U., Seagrave, Wednesday night. A good crowd was in attendance. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 11, 1961 Trophies were presented at the annual bowling banquet for the Men's League held at Flamingo Restaurant. Championship winner was the Star team with Irving Boyd, captain; and Archie Farmer, B. Weeden, Fred Olsen, Geo. Smith, Wes. St. John and Geo. Stone members of the team. Sunday, April 30 and Sunday, May 7 marked the 75th anniver- sary of Port Perry United Church. Jack Crosier, Utica, was the winner of the second annual trout derby sponsored by Uxbridge Kiwanis Club. Mr. Crosier's trout weighed in at 1 1b. 13 oz. 20 YEARS AGO PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, May 13, 1986 -- 5 Letters We need a school and a fair Dear Sir: I vote to elect my Council representation. I am for a new school. I am for the Fair and Fairgrounds. I buy a Port Perry Star every week. I want to see a Fair held yearly with a full representation of all aspects of agriculture. But, I am disturbed that our Coun- cil, the Board of Education representatives and the Fair Board have not negotiated with each other to the best interests of the citizens of the Township of Scugog. I also feel the issue has not been fully or fairly represented through the media. Let's look at some facts: 1) The Fair Board has a lease until 1997. The Fair must present all aspects of agriculture equally and strive to preserve our heritage and background. The Fair must be available within our community e.g. Oshawa Fair moved its location out- side the City anc no longer exists. The present grounds and buildings entailed a lot of hard work by some interested and dedicated local citizens who contributed their time and efforts to create the present facilities. 2) The School Borad needs a loca- tion to build a school. Our children deserve the opportunity to attain an education in our community in the best facility we can provide. When R.H. Cornish was built, it was stated that this school would be able to ac- commodate the future needs. Ap- parently, this is no longer true. 3) Our Council is our elected membership. They are elected to provide for our needs, our wishes, our community's betterment. They represent us! Ultimately, their guidance and decisions rule our day- to-day living in our community. We, the taxpayers, put our faith in these people when we voted for them. We deserve to have some honest representation, without conflict of interest, and without the "fence- sitters." Our ballot noted our choice. If we were unable to decide when we voted and marked all the choices, our ballot would have been ruined and cast out. This is not a populari- ty contest. It is our representative government. So, we need a school. Would you buy a property that does not have a clear deed? Does the Fairground, until 1997? We all live our lives with an alternative. Doesn't the school board have an alternate site? (across from the fairgrounds, north of the arena, north of Flamingo, the property surrounding the present Prince Albert School). Our Board of Education representatives are also elected members. Surely they haven't put all their eggs in one basket. We also need a Fair and a Fairgrounds. Again, let's look at the alternatives. It appears that the Fair Board is agreeable to move, but like you or I, how can you move to an undetermined site with undetermined facilities and costs? Council has stated they are prepared to "assist" but will the ac- tual present facilities ever become real? Costs to replace and build a replica of what is presently there do not seem to have surfaced. The pre- sent Fair Board appears to want to close its membership to a select few which is most hard to comprehend when you consider that community volunteer services are usually hungry for volunteers and assistance. Are they saying they do not need help from the community members? They, too, represent our community and we are involved by their decisions. Especially at this time, when it appears that the FAIR BOARD will decide the future or non-future of a SCHOOL! (Turn to page 6) . Thursday, May 12, 1966 On a request from Port Perry Chamber of Commerce, the local council at the last council meeting decided to contribute $200.00 towards a banquet to be held in honour of Anna Forder and Richard Stephens, Canadian Junior Pairs Figure Skating Champions and Tripp's Bulldozers, Intermediate "C" Hockey champions of Ontario. At the Ontario County Music Festival in Ajax, Reach Central No. 3 School (Epsom) placed first with a mark of 87 in the girls triple trio. 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, May 12, 1976 Scugog Township council was happy to be able to drop this years tax increase by 2 percent over the first projections, but local residents will still be hit with a tax increase of 16 percent. Dagmar Construction was giver the go-ahead for the Lilla Street widening with their tender bid of $1,051,357 for the job. About half of the century old trees along the street will have to be removed. The Port Perry Legion dart team were finalists in the District Dart Competition in which sixteen teams competed. Members of the local team are: Bob Thompson, Al Wackett, Harold Shaw, Ted Wilkinson and Cliff Wilson. Gord Goode of Port Perry was the winner of a new blazer at Gregory's Men's Wear first anniversary sale last week. Local Marina owner Bill Kendry told Scugog Council that he - might be prepared to build a new marina if council would be prepared to give him a long enough lease. He has only a five-year lease now from the township. THINK Letters to the Editor ... our policy It has always been the policy of this newspaper to encourage our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column. Our readers have a right to freely express their opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we feel that a lively letters column helps make a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that a letter writer sign his or her name. On rare occasions, we will agree to with-hold publication of a letter writer's name, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous letter to the editor. While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must continue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. Viewpoint by John B. McClelland Under My Skin I guess this is the week for columnists at the Port Perry Star to harp and complain about things that get under our skin. Note Cathy Robb's Chat- terbox on the opposite page. Cathy is getting mar- ried later this summer, so maybe it is just as well that she uses the column space this week to speak her mind about Life's little irritants. I have no such excuse. I'm not getting mar- ried later this summer. But lately there have been a few things sticking in my craw and it's time to get them out in the open. First, the big issues. How come a federal Cabinet Minister can say he has no conflict of in- terest when his spouse negotiates a sweetheart interest-free loan of $2.6 million from a company getting grants from the minister's department? Sinclair Stevens may be right when he claims he had no knowledge of the loan negotiated by his wife. But does he think the Canadian people are all from Cleveland? Ss The provincial Liberals under David Peter- son swept aside 42 years of Tory rule in Ontario and most people agreed at the time that a change was long overdue in this province. A breath of fresh air was needed at Queens Park. The Liberals now are in a real dog-fight with the province's medical profession over the extra- billing uproar. Sad to say, but the public is going to suffer in the long run. I can't quite figure out why Peterson and the Liberals have decided to dig in their heels on this particular issue. I suspect it has something to do with the un-holy alliance with the New Democrats. Minority governments usually are constructive for a short period of time. This extra-billing issue is a perfect example of how minority governments can be destructive. A negotiated compromise that saved face for both the government and the docs should have been worked out long ago. Now it may be too late. Back during the election campaign, there were noises from the Liberal camp about a cou- ple of things that caught my attention: the Ontario Censor Board and beer in corner stores. The Censor Board (it's been re-named with some fancy dandy title) is still cranking away demanding cuts from films and in some cases even demanding that a film be banned totally from public screening. What's more, the Censor Board has even moved into the home video market. Ontario is one of the few jurisdictions in North America where an appointed group can tell adults what to see and what not to see on the screen. I attend about three movies each year, so obvious- ly, what the Board does has little direct affect on me. But I resent completely the Board's unilateral power to make movie decisions for every adult in this province. As for beer in the corner stores. Same thing applies. How come the provincial government wants to retain total control over where beer can be bought, when it can be sold, who gets licences and so on. I thought Peterson was going to do away with some of the hide-bound regulations and legislation that had been foisted off during 42: years of Blue rules Ontario. Not so. Peterson has put all his energies into scrapping with the medical profession. Right here in Port Perry, I will be watching closely the outcome of the vote on Wednesday evening (May 14) on whether the Fair Board breaks its lease on the Fairgrounds. The details of this issue have been dealt with at other times. ~ However, what miffs me most right now is not the issue itself, or even the new school going down the tubes for a couple of years. What is most disturbing is the potential for irrevocable damage to the Port Perry Fair itself, no matter where it is located. Some people still fail to understand just how serious this damage could be. And finally: I have to agree completely with Ms. Robb who rails on about delivery trucks block- ing traffic on Queen Street. I've been picking bones about courier vehicles on Queen Street for the past couple of years. The courier drivers dou- ble and triple park wherever they damn well like. Who do they think they are? Just once, I would like to see the authorities order one of those courier trucks towed away. As Clint Eastwood says "that would make my day." There, I've had my say about a few things that get me peeved. Know what? I don't feel any bet- ter for it, 'cause chances are nothing will change. They never do.