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i Ape hd Madi 1) / UU p= = ELL a WE x 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 8, 1988 Editorial Comments What's In A Name Things are so quiet around the newsroom at the Port Perry Star that we have to resurrect an old ghost from the past to fill this space this week. Remember when Regional government was formed in this area back about 15 years ago? A new Township called Scugog was formed incorporating four the four for- mer municipalities once known as Port Perry, Cartwright, Scugog IslandandReach. And the new Scugog Township in turn became a part of Durham Region, along with seven other municipalities. There was a fair amount of public debate about the merits of Regional government back in 1973-74, most of it negative. A lot of people were very upset that four long-standing municipalities with their own distinct identities simply ceased to exist one day. Mindful of this lack of identity, the powers that be which created Regional government and the new Scugog Town- ship even decided that the old names, Port Perry, Cartwright, Scugog Island and Reach would go the way of the horse and buggy, at least for official purposes. Thus, in the new Scugog Township, when the political boundaries were drawn up, Cartwright became Ward 4; Scugog Island became Ward 3, Port Perry became Ward 2, and Reach was named Ward 1. It seems the powers that be at that time wanted the peo- ple in those four areas to completely forget about the past, so they were slotted neatly into new wards. Well, over the past 15 years, the hue and cry over Re- gional government, loss of identity, etc., has pretty well died down. Some may still not like Regionalization very much, but they recognize that it's here to stay. Even the old fears of inter-ward rivalry in the new Scu- gog have pretty well disappeared, though once in a while, this rivalry will pop up at a local council meeting, usually over some minor matter. So now, 15 years later, why can't we turn the hands of the clock back a bit, and do away with those terribly boring Ward designations, and once again call the four wards by their historical names. What's wrong with officially re-naming Ward 4 as Cartwright Ward; Ward 3 as the Island Ward, Ward 2 as Port Perry; and Ward 1 as Reach Ward? Those names have a lot of history, a lot of character, and those names still get a lot of usage in every-day vo- cabulary. And besides, the names sound a lot better than Ward 1 or Ward 4. Surely, the new Scugog Township of 1988 has matured to the point where we could officially re-designate the names of the four wards to reflect their specific history and identity. A name is just a name, but Cartwright Ward is much more interesting than Ward 4, isn't it? Port Perry STAR 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO Phone 985-7383 P.0.Box90 LOB 1NO 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 Edi Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for cash CATHY OLLIFFE payment of postage in cash News & Features OVAN COmpy nh un Xo Ne » 1] \ Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year. Elsewhere $60.00 per year. Single Copy 50° © COPYRIGHT -- 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 RRR RIES \ RRS CN CLO tt Zo So" ert ave AICS ee Yo : n= CSO Ze. ia Chatterbox by Cathy Olliffe THE DEMISE OF MICHAEL JACKSON Whatever happened to Michael Jackson? Five years ago, Jackson was a hero to literal- ly millions of people throughout the world. His album, the most successful recording of all time, the now legendary Thriller was the hot- test wax to hit record stores since the Beatles sailed to America with Rubber Soul. The man had the universe by the tail. He could dance just as well as he could sing, and he had teenagers everywhere imitating his smoothest of moves, the "moon walk". You couldn't go anywhere without seeing Jackson's picture on magazine covers, on tel- evision screens, or on posters plastered on prepubescent bedroom walls. The man was an idol, a musical sensation, and he turned the video into the art-form it is today. And then there was the Victory tour, starring Michael Jackson, featuring all his famous brothers, an extravaganza, with $40 tickets going like proverbial hotcakes. | was one of the people who paid $40 to see the Victory show at the CNE, and even though Jackson was the size of an ant from my seat up in the middle of nowhere, the show was worth every nickel. He was so hot. Everyone knew it, including his peers, and in the year of Michael Jackson, in the year of Thriller, he swept the Grammy. Awards, Ameri- ca's top homage to stars in the recording in- dustry. And then Michael Jackson disappeared. From overdosing on MJ publicity, we scarce- ly heard a word from the superstar. And what we did hear, was pretty bizarre. The plastic surgery to his face was weird enough, but heads really started shaking when we heard about his backyard collection of exotic animals, his reclusiveness and ru- mours about his sexuality, or lack of it. Jackson made a standing offer of more than a million dollars to buy the dusty bones of John Merrick, the infamous "Elephant Man." Michael Jackson suddenly dropped like a stone in the fickle eye of the public, and teen- agers who previously worshipped the ground he moon walked over, turned their attention to more earthy rock stars like Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen. And just when all those Thriller albums were relegated to the attic to gather dust, Jackson surprised the world with yet another stunning musical masterpiece, Bad. But what really topped everything was when. With singles like "The Way You Make Me Feel," The Man In The Mirror", and the title song "Bad", Jackson quickly re-established himself as a master of pop, and a genius record salesman. Once again, teenagers were begging for a Michael Jackson album under the Christmas tree, and you could barely find a radio station that wasn't devoting heavy airplay to one or all of his singles. The Pepsi-Cola company again offered him untold fortunes for his cooperation in com- mercials, and the hysteria which surrounded Jackson during the heady Thriller days seemed destined to return full force. But something was different this time around. Despite the finely crafted music (in my opin- ion, nobody can sing quite like Michael Jack- son), despite the record sales, people weren't so quick to hail Jackson as the god he was proclaimed five years ago. And this was painfully clear last Wednesday night at the 1988 Grammy Awards. Sure, he was given a standing ovation for his performance of "Man In The Mirror", but when it came time for awards, Jackson was left out in the cold. Despite several nominations, the only award Bad picked up was for engineering-- something that had virtually nothing to do with Jackson himself. In all other categories, Jackson was ignored. Even Quincy Jones, nominated for producer of the year, lost out to the producer of Whit- ney Houston's album. In fact, it seemed to be the night of wimpi- ness as Houston and anybody who had any- thing to do with the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, swept up most of the awards. But the big surprise was Jackson. From win- ning everything possible at the last Grammy awards, he won nothing this time around. And | don't think this giant snub had anyth- ing to do with Jackson's music. It had to do with his reputation. People don't like to see their stars doing anything weird, they really don't. And they don't want them to have too much money, too much fame, and too much plastic surgery. Jackson had all three, and | think this will haunt him throughout the rest of his life. Bad is a good album, but it will take more than simply good music to make Jackson pop- ular once again with his peers.