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| | PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, October 18, 1988 -- 7 Viewpoint by John B. McClelland WHAT'S NEXT, CHRISTMAS? | was somewhat saddened by the recent court decision that has effectively banned the Lord's Prayer from all schools in the public education sys- tem in Ontario. =. School kids have been reciting the Prayer as. part of the morning exercises for a long time in this province, but no more. A court ruled that reciting the Lord's Prayer in public schools is contrary to our Constitution be- cause it is discriminatory against students who have no religious faith or are of non Christian faiths. | suppose | can see the logic in that. But | am still troubled by the fact the Prayer has been banned in the public schools. The Prayer, in my opinion is al- most universal in its message of seeking forgive- ness, being thankful for "this day and our daily broad," the leading away from temptations and evils. Sure, there are references to the "Kingdom," the "power and the glory," eternity and "our Fa- ther." And | presume it is these which followers of non-Christian faiths may take as offensive. But mainly | am troubled by the fact that the say- ing of the Lord's Prayer has been a tradition in On- tario schools, and now it is no more. | wonder what's next. Is somebody going to challenge the fact that schools make a big fuss at Christmas, which is a Christian festival. | mean if we are going to follow this thing through to its logical conclusion, there should be no religious referenc- es of any kind in the public schools. Can you imag- ine a grade two teacher having to tell a class of ex- cited seven year olds that there will be no Christmas party or concert because of a court ruling. Same could be said about Easter, the most important event in the Christian calendar. These are troubling times we live in. On the one hand, a large segment of society is lamenting the erosion of traditions and values that have been cor- nerstones of this country since before Contedera- tion. And the Constitution is being used to do it. Just once in this country, | would like to see the wishes of the majority prevail over those of the mi- norities, especially when it comes to something like the Lord's Prayer. | would take exception if public schools were try- ing jo push Christianity down the throats of stu- ents. But for the life of me, | can't understand how the Lord's Prayer with its universal message of love. un- derstanding, and hope, can be offensive to anyone when recited by school children at the start of class. And another thing | can't understand, is how this country has reached the point where the tails are wagging the dog day in and day out. | wonder when the dog is going to wake up and start snapping back. . OFF AND RUNNING Political junkies have no shortage of "fixes" these days. Flip on the TV news and what do we see: Brian, John and Ed barn-storming around the country promising the moon (almost) each claiming that he is is the best man to lead Canada for the next four years or so. If you've had your fill of those three, you can always turn to an American channel to tune in the Presidential race between Mike Duka- kis and George Bush. Personally, | have always had a fascination with American politics. | don't necessarily like it, but | find it hugely interesting. They play rough down there, very rough. The process has reached the point where if a candidate for the White House can survive the pri- maries, then the campaign and the super-intense scrutiny by the most vigorous press in the world, the four years in the Oval Office are almost like a paid holiday for the victor. Closer to home, we finally know who is running tor what in the Scugog Township municipal elec- ns. | have been around Port Perry for a few local elections, and | can't recall one that has generated more interest than the one coming November 14. Part of the reason for the enormous interest is the fact that there are so many new faces seeking office and the red-hot race for the mayor's chair. To say that Scugog Township council is going to be radically different on November 15 is an un- derstatement. The retirement of Mayor Jerry Taylor and Regional councillor Lawrence Malcolm after many years in office, resulted in races for the two top seats and had a ripple effect down through the ward seats. | Scugog Township is facing some very critical is- sues that must be solved over the next three years which makes this election so important. - Yesterday's Memories 70 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 10, 1918 . The Town Treasurer, J. Ford, has been appointed Municipal Fuel Controller for Port Perry and his appointment has receiv- ed government confirmation. Beare Bros. of Port Perry, sold to Mr. Wm. McDonald of Saintfield, a J.I. Case Tractor and Silo Filler. The cost of this outfit was $1,500. and is giving great satisfaction. 'Dr. J.D. Berry has sold his residence on Queen Street, Port Perry to Mr. Wi. Real of Greenbank. We are pleased to have Pte. Harold Hodgson of Deseronto in the Raglan area recently. Harold is now a birdman and has had some thrilling experiences flying. 45 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 14, 1943 Congratulations to Mr. Albert Orchard of Port Perry who celebrated his 94th birthday on October 11th, 1943. ~ Mr. John Weir, Port Perry, picked a handful of luscious ber- ries from his raspberry canes a few days ago. : Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Williams celebrated their 50th Wedding | Anniversary on Saturday, October 9th. Mr. Gordon Shunk, just north of the Yellow School, discovered a large tomato in his garden recently. It was 21 in- ches in circumference and. was in the shape of a horseshoe. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 15, 1953 Mr. Jack Raines, the town clerk, informed the Star last week that in the official figures for the census, 1953, the population was given as 1961. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Saywell, Blackstock have had a T.V. installed in their home. Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Gerrow, Oshawa, who celebrated their 57th Wedding Anniversary on October 14th, 1953. Oshawa and Ontario County is the second highest wage ear- ning district in the province of Ontario. The 1951 average income for the head of an urban wage-earning family in this district is given as $2,796.00. : ~ 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 16, 1958 Mr. and Mrs. E.L. McLean of Toronto (formerly of Port | Perry), were in town Saturday renewing former acquaintances and were guests of Mrs. Ingram and Miss McKee. The Second Annual Tri-County Track and Field Meet was held Friday at Blackstock with 103 contestants from Blackstock, Orono and Millbrook competing. Orono took first place with 180%, __ (Turn to page 8) Letters To The Editor: Not so long ago, September 11, 1988 the Borelia Co-op in Port Perry staged an official opening ceremony. Mayor Jerry Taylor, MP Alan Lawrence, and Co-op President Paul Sherwood all bestowed praise on this project, yet we're sure that they don't know about some problems with ~ perhaps exception to Co-op Presi- dent Paul Sherwood. Last April our family of five (now six) returned to Ontario and immediately sought affordable housing. The co-op in Port Perry appeared as the ideal location and the idea of a community within a community attracted us. Inquiring with Mr. Jamie Lane, Director, left us shaking our heads. He was vague, evasive of questions and basically not a great deal of help. He did however, inform us that if our family wanted to live in the Co-op we would have to fill out an ap- plication form. Charges for the application form would be $20.00. Four months passed before we finally heard from the Co-op. We had now been requested to attend an "Orientation Meeting" where details about Co-op living would be explained. We attended the meeting and made an appoint- ment for a personal interview. (This is another necessary step to anyone who wants to get in). At the interview, questions such as (and my wording may not be 100 percent) were asked: 1. Would we mind living next to people that are handicapped? 2. What would Ido if we hadn't seen a neighbour for a while when we used to see him everyday? 3. What commit- tee would my wife and I like to be on? 4. What would we do if a neighbour doesn't pay his rent? -- 'Why no answers from Co-op??? Answering honestly and openly, the questions continued for an hour with all answers being recorded by the Co-op interviewers. Our honesty and openess was not good enough for we were deemed unacceptable. We wrote a letter to the Co-op upon hearing of their decision asking for an explanation as to why our family was unaccep- table. We also requested a copy of that hour long written interview and a refund of our $20.00. As expected, a reply from the Co-op informed us that the $20.00 was non-refundable. The copies of the interview were for the "Membership Selection Commit- tee to use and is not given to ap- plicants requesting it." Our re- quest for an explanation of our unacceptability was totally ignored. We are certain that we are not being singled out. We have spoken to other Co-op applicants and the same problem has occurred. (Turn to page 9) Roy stays on sidelines To The Editor: Not always, what you see is what you get. For health reasons, also many other commitments I have made to myself, I shall not be candidate for the upcoming Municipal elec- tion. My general health is pretty good, so I do not wish to promise to accept office if my health will not permit me to do so. This is a cross section of the residents who have approached me to put my name forward (1. Ward 2 Councillor - 2. Area Coun- cillor - 3. Regional Councillor - 4. Mayor) our youth - new residents (who have recently moved into our Township) - older residents - (Turn to page 9) to the editor. Letters to the Editor ... our policy It has always been the policy of this newpspaper to encourage our | readers to make use of the letters to the editor column. Our readers have a right to freely express their opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we feel that a lively letters column helps make a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that a letter writer sign his or her name. On rare occasions, we will agree to with-hold publication of a letter writer's name, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous letter While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must con- ] tinue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. -- of sre --