The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

8 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- (esoay + May 23 1989 Letters rio Editorial hints of discrimination as the tax dollars spent on the "pro-budget propoganda," adver- tising which is an insult to the in- telligence of all Canadians. In cluding other examples of bad government spending in the editorial would have made the WEDDING INVITATIONS and Accessories PORT PERRY STAR 235 Queen Street Port Perry 985-7383 argument that much more objec- tive and helped remove the unjust blame from the shoulders of French Canadians. . The real culprit in improper spending of our tax dollars is the Federal Government. Don't use French Canadians as a scapegoat. Like us, they are the victims of poor fiscal manage- ment, not the perpetrators. Lastly, it disturbs me, as a Canadian proud of our multicultural heritage, to witness an influential community paper taking such a one-sided stance with regards to francophone af- fairs. This could possibly fan the flames of any existing anti- French sentiments in the com- munity. The sign of a truly excep- tional newspaper is the un-biased, objective and, especially, non- descriminatory quality of its writing. This quality has been maintained in the Port Perry Star... usually. Sincerely, Kara Warburton View Lake R.R. 1, Janetville LOST WISDOM It's been close to ten years since my dentist held a small piece of negative up to the light and with gleam in his eye exclaimed that | had a couple of wisdom teeth that would cause me problems some day. While not suggesting | should have them out right away, he indicated that he would even- tually get them, while | vowed he wouldn't get his stainless steel scalpel near me until | couldn't stand the pain any longer. Well, he finally won out! A couple of weeks ago | entered the emer- gency entrance at Community Memorial Hospi- tal for an operation to have one wisdom tooth removed. After being admitted, the nurse pointed me to a room and gave me one of those ridiculous night gowns, a little blue cap and a pair of cot- ton loggings to put on. All dressed up in my new outfit, | was then asked to climb aboard a stretcher outside the operating room and wait my turn, There were four victims lined up in the hall, and about half an hour after taking the prone position on the stretcher, the first was wheeled through the double doors, and disappeared around a corner. _ It was a long wait as the three patients ahead of me each took their place under the bright lights of the operating room, but eventual- ly a nurse came by with a big re-assuring smile on her face and a coupie of needles in her hand. | can't remember the names of the drugs that were being injected into my hips, but | re- member one was to dry out my mouth (it worked great) and the other to prevent me from becoming nauseous. As fortune would have it, one of the needles hit a blood vessel so we had to take another shot in the opposite hip. The nurse was very apologetic and said that it was only the second time she had ever hit a blood vessel. (I didn't tell her it was the first time it had every happened to me). Following the needles, | was rolled into the operating room, ined off the stretcher and onto the operating table where | lay there help- Random Jottings by }. Peter Hvidsten lessly looking up "at the sterile ceiling, catching only a glimpse of the operating room greens as they moved about the room. At one point | jokingly remember suggesting that | had changed my mind about undergoing the operation, only to be told by the anesthetist | had about 30 seconds before | would be in slum- ber land. As | recall, | didn't even last that long! it was about an hour later that | was awak- ened in the recovery room by a nurse saying that everything had gone well. Although | was still un- der the influence of the anesthetic, | couldn't be- lieve the operation was over. | had completely lost an hour of my life and in doing so, had also lost my wisdom tooth. Dr. Jack wins again! WHAT'S IN A NAME We get our share of criticism at the Star for errors in the spelling, and suggestions that we should hire a good proof reader. Over the years we have learned that one of the worst things to spell wrong is a person's name. Names are sacred! And to spell them wrong in a hockey report, the bridge scores or the correspondence is almost a sacrilege. Over the years | have grown quite accus- tomed to having my name spelled wrong, and in Jac when someone actually spells it right, it is a rill. A couple of weeks ago Nancy and | decided to collect all of the different spellings we received on envelopes, letters etc. and just see how badly our name is abused. % The following are some examples: HWIDSON HYIDSTEN HAVITZSTEIN WITSKIN HVIDSTEIN HVIDSEN WYIDSTEN HIRDSTON : There have been hundreds more over the years, but just to avoid any further occurrences of my name being spelled wrong it goes like this...HVIDSTEN. To say it, drop the silent 'H' and pronounce it "VID" "STEN". Easy eh! Viewpoint by J.B. McClelland (From page 7) as they took a lot of flak and heat from residents out-raged at what by today's standards was a fairly modest tax in- crease. As a young editor, | learned a lot from that meeting, be- cause some people said the local paper (that's the one you're reading) was not vigilant enough in keeping an eye on council, and was not doing a very good job in explaining or even reporting budget and spending hikes. I took the criticism to heart, and ever since, have gone to considerable lengths to report and comment on local, re- gional and school board spending patterns. In 1989, for example, this paper has carried several budget reports about the tax increases, and we have not received one letter of complaint from an irate ratepayer. As for the old Ratepayers Association, that group long ago quietly folded up for lack of support. Of course tax hikes are not just limited to local govern- ment. The hikes slapped on by the province and the feds have been just as steep over the last decade. | can't help but wonder if it this has not become a self- perpetuating prophecy. If you tell peoplo often enough that axes have to go up to pay for this and that, they come to expect it. And the old threat to "vote the scoundrels" out of office next election just doesn't hold water, anymore. And of course, politicians, the people who actually vote the tax hikes, do a pretty nice job these days in telling peo- ple that taxes are going up only to pay for services the peo- ple want and demand. The great debate these days, is not about how much taxes are going up, but where the money will be spent. In Durham Region and indeed in most areas in south- em Ontario, the tax bubble is going to break if the economy turns sour and money suddenly gets "tight," or if the bottom falls out of the real estate market. If the market value of property starts to decline, then | think people will sit up and take notice when they get slapped with a 15 per cent tax hike. But enough on this dreary topic. Spring is here at last, the weather is beautiful. Who wants to read about taxes, taxes, and more taxes. Next week, | shall make a concerted effort to devote this column space to a far lighter topic: what people wear when the weather is hot and why some people should stay indoors. Remember that one? Boy, did | catch flak for that column of a year ago. In the meantime, crank up the bar-b-g, put the beer on ice, settle back in your favourite chair and enjoy summer. DID YOU KNOW? Community newspapers have multiple readers and deliver an average of 4.68 readers per copy. That translates into a potential of 32,760 readers of the Port Perry Star every week. | For Advertising Made Easy call the STAR at 985-7383 Letters to the Editor .... our policy It has always been the policy of this newspaper 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 no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous let- ter to the editor. While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must con- tinue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. -- For Better or For Worse® BOOKS PH HMM.-DRD'S OLD TEXT- ANATOMY OF THE HEAD ¢ [i AND NECK, HISTORY OF SEXUAL PRACTICES IN J ISTO ME | (/ (4 a IT g 0 NY, i' 4 | EMMERSON INSURANCE BROKERS LIMITED 193 QUEEN ST., PORT PERRY, ONT. LOB 1NO (416) 985-7306 ALL LINES OF GENERAL INSURANCE * * » HOMEOWNERS - FARM - AUTO COMMERCIAL wa tn EN ir 1 rs Ser rR orm hy. "