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| | | 6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, February 9, 1988 If theré's one thing today's kids aren't, it's stupid. For as long as there have been schools, there have been kids trying to get out of them. Used to be, you'd wake up in the morning, puff out your cheeks and try your hardest to convince mom you had the mumps--for the eighth time that year. Children have been known to come up with some of the strangest diseases known. Symptoms include stomach aches, deafness, sore legs, headaches, cramped hands, sore backs, toothaches, eye pain, sore throats and a pain in the big toe--all at the same time. The disease can often be diagnosed as Incomplete Homeworkitis or Examiphobia and is cured magically when the school bells.ring out the end of the day. A parent may fall for any given disease once, but once only. . Today's kids, however, are more sophisticated. No red pen marks appear on their skin when they try to fake chicken pox. They don't even worry about faking measles, mumps or ton- sillitis. Who needs it when there's something much more straightforward out there that needs little more than a declaration from the suffering stu- dent to gain acceptance? Modern day kids simply state they are allergic to school. That's it! That's all it takes and the kid is ex- cused from class and at the very least, excused - when he fails his tests or can't remember yester- day's lesson. Gone are the days when students struggle to stay awake while a droning history teacher buzzes "on and on in a monotone about long gone kings and religious wars. Now the kids can simply let their eyelids droop, their heads fall and slip safely into dreamland. When discovered and the teacher slams the pointer down on snoozing student's desks, the kid can just blink, rub his eyes and say without a lie that it's the environment putting him to sleep which of course, has always been the case. Today's students say they are suffering from polluted air in classrooms that are so energy ef- ficient, there's no air circulation and the result is | One Woman's View by Chris Carlisle a build up of carbon dioxide. And that's what puts them to sleep, not the late night before when they were in bed surreptitiously listening to their radios half the night. Not the division problems that in- terest them no more than their nightly dishwashing chores. And it certainly couldn't be their dreams to escape the confines of science class and get outside to the school yard so they can throw snowballs at the girls. Today's students suffer from allergies to the materials used in school construction, especially in portables. Portables have always had a stigma. Who has ever liked a class in a portable? But today's kids won't settle for old excuses. No, they're allergic to the carpet glue, particle board walls and shelves, mould and felt pens. They're also allergic to cleaning fluids. (Is this new?) Some kids are even allergic to chalk--heaven forbid they should have to step up to the blackboard for the spelling drill. They break out in a rash or tears. When at school, they suffer from memory loss and short attention spans. Very convenient when there's a big test the day following a showing of a Star Trek movie on T.V. They also. get nosebleeds. Once attributed to the playground, they are now caused by the air in the schools. The proof of it all, the parents say, is that after a weekend, little Johnny is one-hundred percent. He feels just great after a weekend outdoors on the rink playing hockey. But after only one day at school, the headaches, nosebleeds and catnaps start right up again. By Friday, the kid's a wreck and failing all his tests. (Funny, I know a few peo- ple in the workplace with the same symptoms.) The amazing angle to this situation is the sup- port the kids are getting from their parents. Some parents in Mississauga are calling for a walkout by the students until the province takes action. The lucky kids will get a holiday with their parents' approval. And the education ministry will probably spend a million on a study that finds they need to open the windows, get the kids to bed on time and make sure they study and do their homework. But by then, the kids'll have dreamt up a new excuse. Letters Scugog Island music To The Editor: As I look out my picture window I think of how much I enjoy my Scugog Island music. Every Friday morning we trot off to the Eighth Line to Edna and John Beckett's place for weekly "practise. There is one grandson in the group and the rest of us are older. There are 3 violins, 3 guitars, 1 accordian, 1 drum, 1 banjo, 2 harps and 1 grand piano and 1 clava. We played quite a bit for the public in 1987 and this year we played for the nursing home, also last Saturday afternoon we had a concert at the Island Hall given of our group called "The Golden Slippers." Our big thrill was when Allan Lawrence sent us a personal let- ter of thanks for playing at Devil's Elbow for the Progressive Con- servative Party for over 3,000 peo- ple. We are like a snowball getting bigger and better all the time. As I think of the happy times together, with my fellow musi- cians, the sound and beat of the Island music keeps ringing in my ear, and how back to practise. Yours truly, Violet Hanley, Scugog Island. | by Mrs. Jean Gray on behalf of the staff members... | Mrs. Norman Heayn found a purple pansy in bloom in her garden recently, the sign of an early spring? At the second annual "Bad Boy Bonspiel" held at the Oshawa Golf Club recently, a rink from Port Perry consisting of Harold || Kyte, Bob Howsam, Garnet Warriner and Bill Cornish, skip, were three game winners. Yesterday's | Memories | (From Page 5) Parish Hall, Tuesday, February 6 to honour Mrs. K. Hook. Mrs. Hook has been an employee of the Port Perry Community Memorial Hospital since its opening in 1953. She is administrator at the present time and will be leaving at the end of the month. | A silver tray and gift certificate were presented to Mrs. Hook 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, February 8, 1978 The establishment of a Business Improvement Area (BIA) for a section of downtown Port Perry took an initial step forward. 'More than 100 merchants, business people and local politicians jammed into the Port Tavern on Water St. and after a wide rang- ing discussion, voted almost unanimously to set the wheels in motion for a BIA in this community. A rink skipped by Helen Hadden from the Port Perry Curl- ing Club captured the Marj Tripp Ladies Bonspiel January 31. Team members included Alice Edgar, Louise Haugen, and Jean Robertson. - Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten 1973 COMMERCIAL STUDY While cleaning out some old files last Friday | came across a study prepared by Totten, Sims, Hu- bicki Associates dated January 1973. The study was commissioned by the Township of Scugog and the local Chamber of Commerce to collect some important information regarding the formation of a Business Improvement Area (BIA) for downtown Port Perry. There are many very interesting observations in the study, but it seemed ironic that | had already written my column for this week about parking, and a good portion of this study also delt with the lack of parking in Port Perry in 1973. The following are some of the observatiohs and recornmendations suggested 15 years ago in this commerical study. - 1. There are between 411 and 463 parking spac- es in Port Perry's Central Business District (CBD) which represents a present deficiency of about 59 off-street parking spaces. 2. While the number of spaces is close to being . adequate, the general location, design, condition and accessibility of these spaces do not meet re- quired standards. 3. By the year 1981, based on the projected growth of commercial facilities in the downtown area, Port Perry will have a deficiency of approxi- mately 125 off-street spaces, and this figure will rise to 180 by 1991, 4, In general this means that Port Perry presently requires about an additional one-half acre of land in the CBD for off-street parking. 5. Conveniently accessible off-street parking are- as should be established in the CBD with the mer- chants improving their existing spaces, and the council and merchants taking steps to establish about a 60-100 space off-street parking lot ulti- mately, and one or two additional lots for future re- - quirements. As | said at the start of this column, it is ironic that this piece appeared at this time. The following portion of this column was written Wednesday af- ternoon last week, long before the commercial study was located. PARKING PROBLEMS ~ It would appear that the parking problems in" Port Perry have finally come to a head. For some time now it has been apparent that traffic in downtown Port Perry on any given day of the week is getting very heavy, and there are many times during the week that it is very hard, or near im- possible to find a place to park. There are those who would not agree that the parking situation is a major concern, but those peo- ple are few. Retailers probably are more aware of the problem than anyone, as they receive the com- plaints first-hand from their customers when they come through the door, to purchase goods. But what can be done about the lack of parking spaces? I've got a few ideas, but they will take co- operation from some landowners and the township, but they will also take some $$$$$$. Probably one of the most logical ideas is to ex- pand the parking at the rear of the stores on the south side of Queen Street. Most of this land (exluding behind the Post Of- fice) belongs to individuals, but there is a great deal of valuable space behind those stores that is not being used to its potential. There is a lot of space going to waste in this area, and what is required here is not a lot of money, but a lot of co-operation. Ideally, all of the fences and old buildings at the rear of the stores should be bulldozed and the land leveled into one gigantic parking lot. For this to happen we would first need the blessings of the landowners by way of a long-term lease to the township, and then some money to grade and pave the area. Another idea for parking, is better use of the old arena pad on Water Street. Presently cars are parking in any which direction on this site, and because of the size, there is a lot of space wasted. Once again, my solution is going to cost some money, but what doesn't toda'. If retaining walls were built along the north side of thie pad close to North Street, and along the east side of the pad near the sidewalk on Water Street, the amount of space available in this area could be doubled. (Turn to page 8) w RE Wt alone a ea mg wR SR aS a,