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Te. 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, November 25, 1986 Editorial Comments Whatever The Outcome ..... it is our understanding that the Port Perry Fair Board will take a vote this week (Wed. November 26) on whether to break the lease it has with the Township for the Fairgrounds at Simcoe Street and Durham Road 8. Thankfully, this troubling issue may soon be drawing to a conclusion. No matter what way the members of the Fair Board decide to vote this week, the issue deserves to be brought to a conclusion. We are quite convinced that all parties involved, including the public in Scugog Township, have had their fill of the so-called Fairgrounds dispute. To date, the issue has been an unhappy one and has created more than its share of bad feelings in Scugog Township. On the bright side, however, we believe that both the Fair Board and Township councillors deserve some praise for continuing to negotiate at the request of the Durham Board of Education which wants a chunk of the Fairgrounds for a new elementary school. It was, after all, the Durham Board of Education that asked the Township council and the Fair Board back in September to try to reach an agreement. The Fair Board spelled out in writing what it wants to make a move to a new location and the Township council spent many hours putting together a package of what it would be prepared to offer the Fair Board to move to a new location. This issue has taken up a lot of time and energy on the part of both Township council and the Fair Board, and the fact they both stuck with it to bring it to the point of at least holding a vote, is to the credit of both groups. : Whatever the outcome of the vote this week, all of the people of Scugog should accept it. If the Fair Board votes to break its lease and move, then it will be up to Township council and the Board to work together to make sure that the new location is the best one possible for the Port Perry Fair. It the Board decides not to break the lease and the Fair stays where it is, then the Durham Board will simply have to get to work and come up with another suitable site for a new school. And if this happens, we trust the people of Scugog, including those who want the new school, will not turn their backs on the Port Perry Fair and its members. So, It Is True Does the New York Times know something about Canada that the rest of us have missed? ~The Times announced last week that it would be closing down its bureau in Ottawa, leaving the task of covering Canadian politics to a single (albeit well qualified) journalist in Toronto. The former Ottawa bureau reporter for the Times is quoted las week as saying the decision to close the office in the capital of this nation is based on a general re-organization by the paper of its foreign bureau. It is not, he said, due to a lack of interest among Times readers about Canada. Well, we are certainly relieved to hear that. The New York Times, after all is considered one of the premier journals of the world, crank- ing out massive columns of grey type each day on events from around (Tum to page 6) \ ( Port Perry STAR 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO -- Phone 985-7383 P.0.Box90 LOB INO J. PETER HVIDSTEN Member of the Publisher Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Community Newspaper Association Advertising Manager Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co Ltd . Port Perry, Ontario J.B. MCCLELLAND Editor Authorized as second c¢lass mail by the Post Ofttice Department, Ottawa. and tor cash CATHY OLLIFFE payment of postage in cash News & Features Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Gon Subscription Rate: In Canada $15.00 per year Elsewhere $45.00 per year Single Copy 35° OCOPYRIGHT -- All layout and composition of advertisements produced by the adver tising department of the Port Perry Star Company Limited are protected under copyright and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher ",, =~T nm... ---- " 47% FINE, J9% POORLY, /4 3% UNDECIDED, WITH A MARGIN OF ERROR oF SOR 43% Chatterbox by Cathy Olliffe WELCOME, WELCOME 'It's Friday morning when I'm writing this, and only God knows what the weather is going to- be like by the time you read this, but gosh, isn't it wonderful outside? I'm in such a good mood, it scares me. Yesterday I didn't have a clue what to write about. John B. suggested something Christmassy so I sat and hen-pecked the typewriter for a short - while, trying to come up with something inspired. Inspired, I wasn't. Sure, the snow was com- ing down outside, but it was a blustery snow, and besides, Christmas is a whole month away. BUT THIS MORNING. This morning, THIS morning is different. I woke up this morning, took one look out the window, and shrieked with joy. Our cozy little cottage in Caesarea was sur- rounded with the purest, sparkling cover of snow imaginable. The cedar trees. were loaded with the stuff, their branches heavy with clean white coats, glowing against a searing blue sky. . "Wake up Doug!" I said delightedly, shaking my sleeping husband who had worked the late shift and really was deserving of a sleep-in. Grumpily he opened his eyes and stared at me accusingly. : "Look at it outside. It's beautiful!" I gushed. Doug looked, and a broad smile creased his face. "It is!"' he breathed, jumping out of bed. here's the camera? Have we got any colour ilm?" Together we scrambled to the back porch, where long, twisted icicles snaked down the win- dows, reflecting the sunshine in crystalline rays. Outside, the backyard and front yard were un- touched by human footprints. Even our street, which wasn't yet plowed, at nine-thirty, held on- ly one set of tire tracks. So pure, so white was the snow, that it appeared almost blue in the shadows. "Doesn't it look just like a post card?" I ask- ed Doug, who nodded with a grin on his face. I thought to myself, THIS is the reason peo- ple live on the shores of Lake Scugog. Who needs the gravel-encrusted snow of Toronto, with salt and sand and pollution destroying nature's most delicious work of art. In Caesarea, the plows might not be working every boulevard every other minute. In Caesarea, you might find yourself pushing a neighbour's car out of a driveway, or you might wind up calling a tow truck for your own. But in Caesarea, it doesn't matter. Surely, the frozen expanse of the lake, the Christmas card pines and cedars, and the cozy cottages wit: 'ufts of white smoke curling out of the chimneys. is enough to make up for the snow plow's absence. When I said it was beautiful as a post card, I was wrong. This morning, our wee hamlet was a picturesque as a Christmas card. Which brings me back to my original point. - Yesterday, Christmas seemed a million miles away. Today, it's right around the corner. Oh, and I can hardly wait. Maybe I'm excited because it will be my first Christmas married, and our first Christmas in our cozy cottage. Our cot- tage, not just some place we rent. Already, Doug and I are discussing where we'll put the Christmas tree, how we'll trim it, and how we're going to decorate the outside. "Today I think I'm going to dig up some Christmas lights,'"' Doug said gleefully, as I got ready for work. Christmas lights! Admittedly, on our street, we'll be up against some stiff competition in the Christmas lights department. The ace Christmas lights decorator of all time, you see, lives just up the street from us. Chester Pedzikowski is renowned for his Christmas displays. Every year he lights up his front yard as if it were the Eaton's Centre, with a kaleidoscope of colours. : This year, when you're out for a drive check- ing out Christmas lights, make sure you make a stop on Lakeview Street in Caesarea, where Chester's display is so beautiful it could make your heart stop. : In fact, Chester is such an expert, that John B. and I have decided to ask him to help judge the Christmas Lights 1986 Contest. Last year, the Port Perry Star hosted a Christmas Pudding contest. This year, we'll be taking names from people who want to enter their houses in the Christmas Lights 1986 Contest. Of course, the judges will be looking at more than lights. Nativity scenes, Santa Claus scenes and all sorts of Christmas decorations will be judged. : John and I haven't worked out the details yet, but keep watching this space for more informa- tion. Perhaps we might even sponsor a prize for the best decorated store windows as well. In the meantime, get out and enjoy the Santa Claus parade this Saturday. All the floats and marching bands, as well as the Great EIf himself, start out at 2:00 p.m. from the Port Perry Fairgrounds, following a course south on Lilla Street to Queen, concluding at the Latcham Centre. Speaking of the Latcham Centre, Santa Claus will be there when the parade is over to meet the kids and hand out bags of treats.