The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, August 5, 1987 One Woman's View by Chris Carlisle The Great Leveler has struck. It wasn't a tornado, earthquake or flood. Just that old time friend, the summer sun. Like just about everywhere else this time of year, we had a week- long heat wave a while back. Okay, heat wave is an understatement. We stood in front of a gargantuan blast furnace; its doors wide open. The entire province was shoved mercilessly into a pizza oven. We were held captive in a steam bath gone berserk. It was hot! It was so hot everyone wandered around so slowly they were almost on rewind. It was so hot everyone had a glow on -- and in some cases trickles and rivulets cf sweat. It was so hot the fish went crazy in the blaze of sunlight and instead of hiding under rock shelves, ventured forth in such a daze, they'd have bitten at a plastic twist tie. And what did it do to us? Suddenly everyone had something to talk about. Everyone had something in common. It was non stop "Hot enough for you?" "She's a hot one." *'Can you believe this heat?" Strangers who never so much as glanced aside in their countless treks down the railroad tracks all had something to say. Suddenly we're all old time buddies. ""Hot isn't it?"' they'd ask. 'Too hot to walk." I was doing the same thing. 'Whew, hot, eh?' For the first cou- pleof days, on greeting my neighbours or anyone in sight, it was all hot talk. And they'd say how hot it was and how it's too hot to work. Too hot to sunbathe. Too hot to fish. (Wrong!) After a couple of days I felt like a broken record and asked myself if those were the only words I knew. But when I stopped immediately mentioning the heat, it was only to have others greet me with the same words. Like I said, it was the great leveler. We all had something to talk about. : People you'd see daily but only nod or wave at suddenly became heated conversationalists. We may have never spoken before (and may never speak again), but in the heat, there was at least a two- minute conversation with all of them. It's almost as if people were just waiting for a way to relate. "Hot night tonight." "Sure is. I can't believe it." "Too hot to be doing that weeding. You should be out on the lake." And on it goes. "Too hot to be working on that fence." "Tell that to my wife." ~The heat wave meant for days I didn't have to wrack my brain for something to say to the neighbour who plants himself on my lawn, then just stands there looking at me. Instead of politely asking how his lawnmowers working or if he has any mice in his cottage all I had to say was "'hot, eh?" and sit there patiently, too weak with heat to speak. Except that left a gap that he filled with a hot offer to rub sun- (Turn to page 8) Island man wins top awards Rob Taylor, Scugog Island, was awarded top prizes in three areas at the annual Durham West 4-H Judg- ing Competition. Rob was awarded the trophy for the highest aggregate score in all eight classes in the competition in the intermediate section. 4-H'ers were required to judge dairy, beef, sheep, hay, wheat, potatoes, farm safety, and weed and seed iden- tification. Rob was also the top judge in both the beef and dairy divisions. The Canadian National Exhibition Shield was awarded to Edward Wetheral, Cannington, for top ag- gregate score in the Novice division. High junior award went to Barclay Phoenix, Greenbank. Scott Wilson, Epsom, won top place in the Senior division. _ The contestant with the highest score in judging sheep was Karen Shier, Wilfrid. David Moore, Ux- bridge, obtained the highest score in the safety section. The Durham West 4-H Judging Club was awarded the prize for the inter-club competition. Team members were Scott Wilson, David Moore, Barclay Phoenix, Karen Shier, and Rob Raines, Sunderland. Wilson's Sales Arena, in Ux- bridge, hosted the annual competi- tion, in which forty-five 4-H members from across Durham West competed. Judging is an im- portant part of the 4-H program. It provides an opportunity for young people to increase their judging skills in many areas, as well as their - public speaking ability. Port Perry Lions Club hosted a day of fun and a ride on a 42 ft. luxury yacht last week for the clients and staff of Central Seven Associa- tion. The days outing included a bus ride to Lake Lions take kids Correction on a nice outing On Friday the Port Perry Lions Club took some clients from Central Seven & C.N.I.B. for a day of boating and swimming on Lake Simcoe. Lunch was served on board the "boat by Don Alland of Alland Graphics of Toronto who donated the boat and all the goodies for the day. It's hoped that this could be made into an annual event. C.N.I.B. Sean Madsen, Central Seven Clients, Lillian Varey, Rox- anne- Sipes, Sandra Grossman, Darlene Durward, Patrick Nealon, Joyce Wilson, Neil Noble, Mike Rich, David Asselstine, P.P. Lions, John Olivero, Ken Clark, Sam Johnston and his son Scott. Central Seven Staff. SE . Dawn Korbak & Terresa McGuin- ness and bus driver Jim Hadley. Simcoe, a boat ride and swimming. Above, the clients and members of the Lions Club just before boarding the bus for the day's activities. An article in last week's issue of the Port Perry Star about the Han- di Transit service available to local physically disabled people contain- ed an error which we would like to correct. It was stated that much of the cost of the $37,000 van came from the council of Scugog and Uxbridge Townships. That in fact was an error, as the money was raised from the public and local organizations. Scugog and Uxbridge councils did not donate to the capital cost of the van, but will underwrite the opera- tional deficit. Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten TITANIC REVISITED When I first heard that a French expedition was heading for the site of the "Titanic" to salvage ar- tifacts from the wreck of this now historic ship, my thoughts were mixed. { But, after giving it a little more thought, I realiz- ed that salvaging the Titanic is really not any dif- ferent than salvaging any other ship that has met with a similar end on the open seas. Granted, there were more people died in this tragic accident (1,512 people) when the ship hit an iceberg the night of April 14, 1912, but there have been many other ships sink with people aboard that have been salvaged. One of the survivors of the Titanic disaster, Eva Hart, 82, who now lives in Chadwell Heath, Essex, just outside London says that the salvagers are "vultures and show a dreadful insensitivity and - greed' by bringing up artifacts from a mass sea grave just to make a few dollars. We can appreciate Mrs. Hart's sentiment with the Titanic as she was a young girl of seven years when her father put her in a lifeboat and floated her 4 i to safety before going down with the ship. To her, the Titanic is a graveyard for many peo- ple, including her father, and it would be beyond comprehension to think anyone would dig up the graves of over 1,500 on land to exhume artifacts. But the location of the Titanic remained a mystery for 75 years, and now that it has been found, it was inevitable that someone would one day, try and salvage whatever possible from the wreck. Just a few years ago in England, the wreck of the Mary Rose, one of King Henry the VIII's flagships went down with its crew on board, and since that time the remains of the ship have been lifted out of the sea. Incidentally, the artifacts are now on display in Hamilton, Ontario. And speaking of Hamilton, what about the wrecks of the Hamilton and Scourge which sits at the bottom of Lake Ontario near the city of Hamilton waiting to be salvaged. Plans are now underway to raise the ships and make a permanent display of the two well-preserved wrecks that went down during a storm during the War of 1812. Clearly visible on these two ships are the skeletal remains of some of the men who went to the bottom with the ships on that ill-fated day. Hundreds of other ships have been salvaged over the centuries and to classify the Titanic any different- ly than all those others would be ridiculous. ee The only unfortunate thing, as I seeit, is that Dr. } Robert Ballard, who headed the expedition, that finally found the Titanic after sitting on the bottom of the ocean for 75 years, will not benefit from the findings that the French Institute for Research and Exploration will recover from the wreck. It was Dr. Robert Ballard's decision when the Titanic was found two years ago, that the ship should remain intact, and left as a memorial to the 1,512 who went down with her on that ill-fated night. Not everyone in this world is as compassionate and caring as Dr. Robert Ballard, and he must have known in the back of his mind that one day, someone with less integrity than his, would take advantage of the opportunity to salvage the Titanic. The French have been quoted as saying they will not sell any of the goods salvaged as they consider them "'priceless' historical artifacts. Hopefully, someday a display of some of the ar- tifacts will make its way to Canada, so others can get a glimpse of some of the priceless treasures that for 75 years remained a mystery to the world.