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PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, December 6, 1968 -- § by John B. THE JOY OF SKATING? Where have all the skaters come from? That's a question I've been asking myself the last few weeks as | lace on the blades each Sunday afternoon for an hour ofpublic skating at the Scugog Arena. This is the only time in the week when the Are- na is open for public skating, and over the past few years it has become something of a habit for me. There was a time when the ice surface wasn't very crowded for public skating, but not any more. The past three or four weeks, the ice has been literally jammed, wall to wall, with skaters of all ages; from tiny tykes taking their first hesitant steps while they cling to the arm of mom or dad; young pre- teens who zip around like water bugs; big teen- agers who zip around like big water bugs; and a lot of people like myself who have re-discovered the joy of skating. But the fact that it is so crowded is starting to take a lot of the joy out of skating, for me, anyway. It's just too bad that the arena is being used to such an extent that there is but one hour (actually 75 minutes) each week for public skating. I'd like to see an hour for adult only skating. But | know there are no hours available, other than 4:00 in the morn- ing. On another peeve related to the public skating, the Arena Board should seriously consider hiring a couple of teen-agers, and give them the authority to throw people out of the building. Viewpoint McClelland horse-play on the ice (tag, rough-housing, throwing snowballs at each other etc.) They race around the ice in every direction, dodging in and out among the other skaters. It's only a matter of time before a very young child gets completely bowled over and cracks a skull on the ice. | don't like to throw cold water on kids having fun (I played tag and threw snowballs at the Saturday night public skating when | was a kid, too) but wit all the very young children using the ice, one of them is going to get badly hurt. But enough about that. Hopefully, Lake Scu- gog will soon solve the problem of the crowds at public skating. | hope Scugog freezes the way it did last year, like a sheet of glass, free of snow. For a couple of weeks around Christmas, it was the best darn skat- ing rink anywhere in the world. You could skate for miles and not have to worry about bumping into somebody, or somebody bumping into you. So, come on, Mother Nature. Spin your magic for Lake Scugog again this freeze-up. AN INSTITUTION A lot of people think the death knell may have been sounded for the Canadian Football League last week when a very wealthy businessman bought the Toronto Argos. Harry Ornest is a Canadian, though he resides in California. He's the guy who bought the St. Louis Blues a few years ago, put some work into the team and then flipped for a very tidy profit rumoured to be $17 million. There are many who think his only interest in the Argos and the CFL, both bleeding red ink heav- ily, is to get a toe hold in Toronto for an NFL tran- chise to play in the new dome stadium. Ornest denied up and down that he has any ul- terior motives in buying the Argos. But quite frankly, the writing has been on the wall for the CFL for several years. Montreal folded up shop. Calgary, BC, Ottawa and Toronto are be- set with serious financial problems, and tans are avoiding the games. | don't think for a minute that Ornest will inten- tionally pull the plug on the Argos and the League just to get access to the Skydome for an NFL team. He may not have to lift a finger. The CFL is almost dead now, and its future is less than promising. In my opinion, two things led to the demise of the CFL. The first is the constant air-lifting of players from the United States, whose only interest in foo}- ball in Canada is as a stepping stone to the NFL. And the second is the fact the season now starts in July, when most fans are interested in the bar-b-q, the fishing hole, the golf course or the Blue Jays and the Expos. For me, the first half of the season is a loss. | couldn't care less about football before Labour Day. By the time the leaves are changing the season is half over and beyond my interest. The CFL season should start Aug. 15 and end with the Grey Cup the last Sunday before Christmas. | used to be a big fan of the CFL, but not any more. Still, | would hate to see the League go down the tubes, but I'm not betting against it. There are far too many youngsters involved in Remember When? 70 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 5, 1918 Mr. James Leask, Greenbank, has bought Mr. E. Burton's brick house and takes possession in March. Owing to the heavy price of feed, milk will go up to 12c. per quart on Monday, December 2nd. Sergt. Hardy Purdy received his discharge and is home. He plans to continue his studies at Port Perry High School. - Pte. George White has become the caretaker of the Post ice. Property owners were notified that they must keep the sidewalks clear of snow in front of their premises within 24 hours of the commencement of a snowfall. 45 YEARS AGO " Thursday, December 3, 1943 F.O. Burgess Beare, a Beau-fighter pilot, shot down three JU88's recently when Canadian pilots on escort duty destroyed a total of five out of a formation line. A robbery was perpetrated on Sunday night when the Beare Motors safe was taken bodily from the service station. The thieves were equipped with a glass cutter and jimmys. They removed the glass from the door, backed a truck up and loaded the safe. The safe was found south-west of Manchester, the con- tents of the cash drawer were taken, some $250.00. Also gas ra- tion books were taken. Mr. W.S. Taylor has purchased the business block owned by Mr. Neil Sweetman. Reeve C. Devitt of Cartwright and Mrs. Devitt were guests of honour at a banquet in the Community Hall, Blackstock. The event marked the election of Mr. Devitt to the office of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ontario East. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 3, 1953 Only 26 people attended the nomination meeting of the town council out of a possible 1000 voters. Reeve and Council were returned by acclamation. Dr. S. Kandel is now associated with Drs. G.M. Rennie and M.B. Dymond and will assist in the practise of medicine, surgery, etc. Mrs. Doris Denure, a student in Grade XIII, won the Carter Scholarship. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, December 4, 1958 Results of the voting in Reach Township, Mr. Howard McMillan, Reeve by acclamation, Deputy reeve, Ed Olyer, Coun- cillors, Earl Martyn, Alan Crosier and Russell Rodd. Speaker at the Port Perry High School Commencement was (Turn to page 8) Letters Swallowed hook, line and sinker To The Editor: Now that one of the dirtiest elections in memory is over and the pollsters, politicians, and pun- dits have had their say, many concerned Canadians who study the scenerio feel that sly Brian Mulroney gave the electorate the bait on free trade, and the two other parties, along with the voters swallowed it hook, line & sinker. Eighty percent is already free trade. The remaining 20 per- cent over 10 years ---that's only 2 percent a year. Many major concerns of Cana- dians were never even mentioned. The huge deficit, a debt about twice the size of the U.S. debt on a per capita basis. A debt that in September was almost 50 percent higher than last September. Debt charges for the first half of this year were $15.7 billion, accoun- ting for 26 percent of all spending. The largest single component of bugetary expenditures. The lies about free trades effect on social services were scare tac- tics of the worst kind, especially affecting seniors. The day-care promises are said to cost about $11 billion ---- more than all the old age pensions in Canada. Not one word was said about the alarming increase in health care costs. Here in Ontario they have jumped to a whopping $16 billion from $12 billion a year ago. Without the $30 billion debt your taxes could be cut by one third! All three parties were mum on Quebec's Meech Lake Accord. I am always suspect when all three agree on one issue. Meech Lake is a greater threat to Canada than free trade!! Professor Robt. Jackson, politicial scientist at Carleton University, author of "Politics in Canada, and Contem- porary Politics" says the Accord is recklessly ambiguous and flaw- ed. It will by making Quebec a distinct society with special status, greatly damage other parts of Canada. Even Pierre Trudeau says "It is the product of a Quebec founded school of blackmail." It makes the rest of Canada second rate to the demands of Quebec. It opens the door to Quebec separatists to destroy Canada. PQ leader Jac- ques Parizeau says Quebec has been blackmailing the rest of Canada for decades and that now once again a vote for his PQ par- ty is a vote for separation. Senator Michael Pitfield former Clerk of the Privy Council says "Only Quebec wins in Meech Ac- cord." '""This is an abominable draft" Pitfield said concluding that "the accord could pave the way for Quebec independance...it invites separatism to develop in an insidious and non patent way. It's a disaster and an irreversible disaster," Pitfield said. Mulroney now insists that the voters gave him go ahead on Meech Lake, is (Turn to page 8) Careful cultivation? To the Editor: The Nov. 29th editorial of your paper was a bit like a seed catalogue. There was a glossy presenta- tion - however, it was difficult for me to pick out the correct seed (idea) you were trying to sell. As usual there was no reminder that careful cultivation (thought) is required. Sincerely, Marion Johnston, Port Perry. 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. --