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iii a ae de ie ive tie ae aii ite dla dike gee ii LB. ie. ideale iii heii ie ie oda dine code ibid iat tie iii ie bili ili. ab iia ai. Ee. Ee od cia ai iii. clit. a ie ie ie aie ae. ie Eiht ee ei ea ny 5 . > - & . 6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, October 12, 1988 Editorial Comments RIGHT DECISION Good for Durham Region council. It's not every day we can throw a small bouquet in that direction, but let's give credit when it's due. Last week, the Regional council voted in favour of pushing ahead this fall with an experimental composting project at a cost of $356,000. Essentially what the project entails is the collection of leaves from certain areas in Whitby which will be collect- ed by homeowners, placed in special bio=degradable garba e bags and trucked to the newly opened Regional ecycling Centre. There, in a special facility, the leaves will be kept moist and turned over the next ten months to render them into compost. Presumably if the experiment works, the project will be expanded in future years to include all areas of the Region. This composting experiment is but one more step to- wards the goal set down by Durham Region to reduce the amount of material going into landfill sites by 25 per cent over the next four years. : Granted, we're not sure how much a garbage bag full of leaves weighs, but at this time of year one need not look too far to see bags and bags of raked leaves sitting by the curb on garbage day waiting to be picked up and trucked to the landfill Sites. y J R p Not only do the leaves take up space in the dumps, the plastic bags take a long time to break down and may leave toxic chemicals when they do. In light of the garbage crisis now on our doorstep, composting on a large scale makes good sense. Getting rid of leaves in this fashion doesn't require a great deal . of high technology. But a start has to be made sometime, and it might as well be now. Some Regional councillors questioned the start-u cost of this experiment. And certainly $356,000 tax dol- lars appears like a substantial sum. But it's peanuts com- pared to the long term costs of disposing trash in landfill the way we have over the last 100 years or so. | As society becomes more in tune with the need to save the environment from further damage, and the need to find viable alternatives to current waste management practises, it is fair to say that large scale composting will e a fact of life for all of us in the next few years. ~ And yes, it does cost more to compost leaves than simply .drop them in a dump somewhere. Problem is, Durham and Metro have run out of dumps, and the cost of opening new ones is mind-boggling The decision taken by Regional council last week to push ahead with this project is the right one. Mistakes will be made, kinks will be have to ironed out, and it will be costly. But there are no alternatives. The same was said not too many years ago about recycling such things as glass, newspaper and tin cans. d Composting is a small but significant step in the right rection. WER . Ag a BN | Raa 2 SN D Nal RNS lk : ¥ N &% y NN =» PORN W A W Saw Ua URE = co dhe SNA WEARER Na MW __ ol OF) JP I A A ub > ava NSE a RN SW NN. § SECS 2 ¢ . AN ® = & me | "rx, ' ay FOR THE BEAUTY oF THE EARTHY FOR THE GLORY OF 74/2 IES 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 Advertising Manager and Ontario Community Newspaper Association. Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Ltd., Port Perry, Ontario. J.B. McCLELLAND Editor a Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for cash CATHY OLLIFFE payment of postage in cash. News & Features Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 PRUAO AN COMMU py 8 x We Ve Ea 0% 22400 3 ass OCIA © 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. Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year. Elsewhere $60.00 per year. Single Copy 50° THANKS GANG! As | begin to write the column, it is just 24 hours before | head off to Texas for a few days. The reason for the trip is not pleasure, and under almost any other circumstance | would not leave the Star at this busy time. But there are some committments made to friends that once made, cannot be broken, and | felt this was one of those. The decision to make this trip was made a few months ago, long before | knew we would have two of our regular staff members off on extended sick leave. In my absence, editor J. B. McClelland will have to hold the lid on the editorial depart- ment by himself, handling all photo assign- ments, attending meetings, conducting story interviews, etc., for a five day period. Now that may not seem like too much of a chore to our readers, but the demands on this newspaper are very heavy. In fact, we are just entering the busiest season of our year, which is considerably magnified with two elec- tions just a few weeks away. John's understanding and willingness to take on the extra burden, caused by my de- arture, is most appreciated, and | would just ike to say publicly, "Thanks John!" Although John may feel the effects of my leaving most, the office staff will have more to contend with as well, and | would also like to thank them for taking on the extra work load. We are indeed fortunate at the Star to have employees who will rally under adverse situations without a wimper or complaint. POOR TIMING Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced the federal fall election recently, and as ex- pected it will fall shortly after Ontario's munici- pal elections. For the life of me | just can't understand why the PM would pick the week after our lo- cal municipal elections? Can You imagine the confusion that is go- ing to rein over the next few weeks as federal and municipal candidates fight for the best spots to put their posters. The entire town- ship will look like "billboard city" as posters for Mayor, councillors, and federal candidates spring up at every corner in the municipality. And when the ads start rolling in the news- papers, mailboxes are filled with pamphlets, and the candidates start handing out their cards, there will be so much confusion, we could end up with one of our federal candi- Random Jottings by }. Peter Hvidsten dates, Marg Wilbur, Ross Stevenson or Doug Moffat as Scugog's next Mayor. OK, | may be carrying the senario to ex- tremes, but there will be a lot of confusion, and this could easily have been avoided if the "feds" had picked a better time. On the local front, the election in Scugog is shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory. | have been around this township for the past 22 years, and in all that time | don't re- call as many candidates looking for an office on Scugog council. It would appear at this time that there will be only one seat filled by acclamation and this is a healthy sign. Interest from residents in how our township will be shaped over the next few years is at an all time high, with 16 candidates in the running for the seven per- son council. HOSPITAL EXPANSION As announced in last week's paper, the Community Memorial Hospital Expansion drive is now underway, with Mayor Jerry Taylor at the helm. This is a massive project, the largest fund raising attempt ever undertaken in the town- ship, with $2 million to be raised. It will take a lot of work by a lot of dedicated ople to pull this one off, but those already involved are confident the task is one that can be accomplished. In order to raise the $2 million for the pro- ject, which includes a 22 bed chronic care wing, and expansion in a number of key de- partments of the hospital, every resident of Scugog Township will have to get behind it. Large companies, small businesses, foun- dations and individuals will all have to dig deep if this project is to be a success. There is little doubt, the hospital is one of the most iniportant institutions in the town- ship, and | am sure there is not one re<.dent of our community that feels it is something we could do without. We have all had contact with the hospital at one time or another, whether it was taking a child to emergency with a high temperature, a tragic accident, chronic iliness or an untimely death, the hospital has always been there for our needs. Now the hospital needs us! They will be asking each and every resident of this com- munity to look deep into their hearts and give Jenelously when they are canvassed some- me in the next few months. Do your part and give generously! eed