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8 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, April 11, 1989 Letters to the editor Assault guns should be banned to protect society To the Editor: This is in reply to the letter (April 4, Port Perry Star) from Stu Jacobs of Blackstock criti- cal of my letter to the editor the previous issue. I stated that to protect the police and the public, assault weapons such as the 1,200 AK- 47's imported into Toronto from Israel, should be banned. These weapons are made for one rea- son: to kill people. They are not for hunting. Jacobs says I don't know what I'm talking about. I con- tacted Durham Region Police Chief Dave Edwards and Police Commission chairman Robert Attersley, and both strongl agreed they should be banned. The American government has banned the import of semi- automatic military-type rifles. Operating. a Semmunly newspaper, is one of the most interesting, although at times frus- trating businesses imaginable. What other business can you think of that is scrutinized by thousands of people in the com- munity, including friends and relatives? The daily papers, radio and television are also in the public eye, but not to the extent of a community newspaper, where the people read- ing the end product are the same people you live with, or meet in any number of situations around the town. Can you imagine what it's like having close to 20,000 people each week take a critical (but objective I'm sure) look at how you operate your business, and then tell you how it could be done better? I'll bet you can't! At the Star we have been fairly fortunate over the years to have had a reading public that is in tune with what we are trying to do. We don't get a lot of unjust criticism (although there have been exceptions), because | feel we try to publish a paper that both we at the Star and our readership can be proud of. Our good fortune is not the same for all community newspapers, and a point in mind is our good friend John E. James who publishes the Amherstburg Echo near Windsor. Mr. James Is in competition (for advertising revenue) with a dozen television stations, seventy five ra- dio stations (Amherstburg is a stone's throw from Windsor and Detroit), daily news, rs, weekly shoppers, magazines, and handbill dis- tributors. Although we at the Star are also surrounded by other media, the competition for the local ad- vertising dollar is not as Joa giving us the ad- vantage of being able to keep our product free from some of the more sensational type reader- ship grabbers needed in Amherstburg. Recently, our friend John, was criticized by one of his readers for running a photograph of a bikini clad girl running across a beach in Flori- da. Shortly after the paper hit the street, he re- - ceived a letter from a longtime, but irate, sub- scriber saying he was "shocked to see this kind of photography in a local family paper", and wrote he was considering cancelling his sub- scription to the Echo. John is not one to mince words when he is criticized for something he feels was unjust, and the long and short of his answer to the long time subscriber was "sorry, but we'll publish whatever we damn well please". All this leads up to some interesting points he makes about the Echo and the community press in general. They are as follows: "The community press is in competition daily by J. Peter Hvidsten with all sorts of other firms trying to attract your attention, and take a slice out of our vital adver- tising base. Most of these competing media have money and manpower resources which com- pletely overwhelm small independent papers, Many community newspapers have already rolled over and died, and lots more are being gobbled up by big chains. At one time there were 275 independent small weeklies in Ontario. Now there are roughly 50 left. Just last month we lost two of our best friends to this fate. Both publishers were in their prime, both extremely capable and talented, both past presidents of the provincial newspaper as- sociation, and both serving their respective com- munities in the unique manner good papers do." But one of the more interesting points John brings up in his column, is how the community perceives its hometown paper. It would appear that most everyone expects "their" weekly paper to be squeaky clean, only delivering to its readers the "good news" of the week. You know, 119 Pleiros of cheque presen- tations, little Mary getting an award at school, the curling bonspiel winners and the bridge scores. ~~ Mostwant a papel they can leave on the ta- ble and not be afraid to have their children pick up for fear of coming across a four letter word like "damn", a "sunshine" gil picture or a story about someone who has suffered a tragedy. But a lot of these same people will stand at the check-out corner of the local grocery store scanning the pages of the National Enquirer, or Playboy; they turn on the smutty late night mo- vies on television, or in the absence of prime time smut, they run down to the local video store to pick out one suitable to their taste. - We are baraged everyday, from every medi- um with new liberalized journalism ideals. Never a day goes by in a daily newspaper, prime time television or your favourite radio station that some four letter word Is not uttered, a flimsily at- tired young lady or man is not viewed, or some passionate love scene is not played out for our youngsters to see. But what's good for the goose, is not neces- sarily good for the gander when it comes to com- munity newspapers. If any of the above were to appear in this weekly paper, or many others around the country, there would be a truckload of letters to the editor critical of our content. - I'm not trying to defend 'sensational' journal- ism by any means, but maybe it's time readers of community newspapers learned that running a small town "family" paper is a business, and in order to survive, we must compete. Sometimes that could mean not being quite so "nice" and "squeaky clean". Jack Marks, Metro Toronto Police Chief wants them banned. He said: "To convert these guns to fully automatic weapons takes only a matter of seconds. I can see no purpose for these guns coming into the country." OPP superintendent Bill Rajsic says these assault rifles are easily converted to machine guns capable of firing 900 rounds per minute. Police have seized 48 per cent more hand-guns and 50 per cent more rifles in 1988 than the previous year. Canada's largest newspa- er reported that RCMP have fisted 12,364 semi-automatic weapons and 259 fully automat- ic weapons have been reported stolen. It was an AK-47 assault weapon that killed five children Town is changing (From page 7) about progress! Am I beginning to sound cinical? Sure am! But then I know we've all been getting tired of looking at many of the old buildings in "Port." Wasn't it a blessing to see the old Creamery on Water Street torn down? How about the Town Hall? ile the bulldozers are here, why' not get them to level that eyesore as well? Hell, if we play our cards right, maybe when the Sky Dome is finished in June, we could get all those guys to come up here and build one over our town! Are you getting the big picture yet Port Perry? Perhaps we need a name change, how does "Markham East' sound? If you're not part of the solution..... J. Hyndman R.R. 4 Port Perry and wounded 30 in a school ard in Stockton, California. he Toronto Star confirmed this. In Hungerford, England, a 27-year old n enthusiast went on a bloody rampage shooting 30 people, killing 14 of them with an assault rifle. The problem, is that often these weapons end up in the hands of drug dealers and hard- ened criminals who think noth- ing of killing people. Innocent people are often the victims when caught in the cross-fire. Without the death penalty, they laugh at the police and the courts. Durham Police are issued .38 cal. hand-guns, hardly a Patch for an AK-47 assault ri- e. As for gun collectors, Peel Region Police just a few days ago seized 161 guns----146 ri- ivy including a number of AK- 's. Legal collectors are targets of criminals. A retired Deputy Chief with the Durham Police told me he keeps his gun collec- tion at Police HQ because he fears a break-in. 'We must protect the police and society. Yours truly, Dean Kelly, Port Perry. © Smart Alternative GENERAL MAINTENANC LAWN SERVICES Good Work - Reasonable Prices (705) 357-3788 suNDerLAND (705) 439-2996 woonviLLE ter 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 col- umn 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 nd circumstances will this paper print an anonymous let- While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must con- tinue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. by Lynn johnston EMMERSON INSURANCE BROKERS LIMITED 193 QUEEN ST., PORT. PERRY,.ONT. LOB iN (416) 985-7306 ALL LINES OF GENERAL INSURANCE * HOMEOWNERS - FARM - AUTO COMMERCIAL > »