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

The birds fell still and It seemed to be playing, not fully alive, but this creature Ever cautious, as | Piles chippy time to get fully o metal and plastic tank barrelli membering some treasure left speed woul when then go over a small im small form rolling violently acro 0 back to witness my crime. before had been rewarded for i used to ants. | was curious, but would Parasites and season, but | do not feel that family would ex joy, appreciating animals in nat That precious little chipmu living. Streich death walked among us Today, on my way to work, | committed a sin so foul, so un- just that | can't get it out of my mind - | ran over a chipmunk. | was driving along the West Quarter line road, heading to- ward 7A when | spotted something moving on the rise. nervously darting out and back, running just for fun. At that time of day, "before breakfast", | am seemed possessed of a zest and vitality which | found amusing and brought a smile to my lips. closer | slowed down to give the the road. When he noticed my black, down on him, like a child just re- hind, the furball turned around and dashed back toward the centre of the street. With iid heart in my throat | swerved as widely as my allow, and tried to straddle the last position he was at, hoping that he would freeze in place, just one more time! | cringed when | heard that gentle bump my back tires make iment. My eyes leaped to the mirror and | glimpsed, to my horror, a ss the road. | stopped the car, but | could not bring myself to get out and | already knew what | would see om years of viewing be-splattered animals on roadsides. | watched the contorted little body for signs of life, but sadly there were none. Even as | gazed u tance, a burgundy stain appeared which marred the symmetry of those beige and black patterns upon its body and face. The small being which had given me pleasure only seconds n the form from a dis- ts efforts with the loss of all joy. | sadly bundled into my death machine and went on with my day, but there was a lingering weight on my shoulder which made me wish for the power to turn back the hands of time. | have never willingly killed anything before in my life. | be- lieve in killing only when it is necessary to survive or to eat. | get annoyed when the little girls in my public school would rip the wings off flies or use a magnifying glass to burn up never be a willing participant. sts justify killing. Mice eradicated with Jans or poison is often necessary to our health and cannot be helped. Black flies and mosquitoes fall steadily to my swats in t ey ever gave me much choice. Despite the rural environment | grew up in, | zealously avoided anything to do with hunti nd our time a feeders and setting out salt licks for the deer and moose to en- and trapping - instead my energy on putting up bird ure rather then as roast or stew." The idea of eating a cow does not bother me, for | consider them slow-witted creatures. But deer seem so alive, and veni- son brings images of soft, brown eyes looking up from the plate nk, was so full of life and energy, zigging and zagqing across the road just to celebrate his joy of Why did | have to come along just then, and blot out a little bit of the happiness left in this too often miserable world? Letters to the editor given away FREE, thrown at your message will reach FALSE PROMISES? When your thinking about advertising, don't be fooled by false promises and large circulations. Many newpapers are the bottom or your driveway, or in the ditch. But how many of these are actually read? The Port Perry Star has a paid circulation of 7,000 copies per week. Our readers want the Star and the pay to make sure they have it in their homes. By advertising in the Star, these potential customers. For Advertising Made Easy call the STAR at 985-7383 For Better or For Worse® Tax money buy us precious little To the Editor: , I am writing to you with regards to certain comments at- tributed to the Mayor in the June 20 edition of the Port Perry Star concerning the recent tax in- creases in this region. I moved in- to Scugog Township from Metro Toronto ten years ago. Many factors were involved in making this decision - a quieter and slower paced lifestyle, a more wholesome atmosphere for our children, and some relief from property taxation in the big city: I live with my family on the Scugog side of the Scugog- Manvers boundary road about eight kilometres east of Blackstock. Over this period, I have seen my annual tax bill rise from $770.90 in 1980, up to $1891.60 in 1988 - an increase of 145 per- cent. I can assure you that my salary has not increased an average of 14.5 percent per year over the last ten years, but I didn't complain - after all, Scugog is a great place to live and we just have to dig a little deeper each year. We try to forget the fact that our tax money buys us precious little out here - no water, no sewers, no garbage collection, rare police patrols, less than ideal fire protection, and precious little road maintenance, and still we have been paying comparable if not greater taxes than those liv- ing in built-up areas and enjoying those services we do without. Now when I find myself saddl- ed with a single year tax increase of 49 percent, you state in the paper that this is because others have been carrying me on their shoulders! On the contrary sir, it is my shoulders that feel the pain and I get the distinct feeling that I am about to be driven right into the ground! I have no quarrel with market value assessment per say, but a one year money grab of this proportion is totally unjustified and morally suspect. Still, I will pay this latest round of tribute to the money pit - I am not a pauper - yet. However I wonder how long I and others out here can go on under these conditions. Yes, Mr. Mayor, Scugog is a wonderful place to live. There has been a steady influx of people in- to this region over the last decade. 'One can only wonder when these oppressive tax policies will turn the tide. Yours truly, R.F. Johns, Blackstock "Editorial Comment (from page 6) would be something wrong if there was not some anger over a 14.8 per cent tax hike, coming as it did with federal and provincial budgets that dig deep into the wallets of all Canadians. But we sure hope that the community doesn't sink into a deep rift in the coming months over recreation facilities, the way it did a decade ago over a library. Just to jog your memory, the library was the subject of two Ontario Municipal Board hearings, and only got the ap- proval of council on a split vote. As we said before, the Township needs to step back and reflect a little at this time before people dig themselves in and decide to do battle just for the sake of doing battle. Let's get the study done by a professional consulting firm with no axes to grind, a study that will gather the facts and present them in an un-biased manner for all to see. Gathering information is a useful exercise at any time. We suspect that if a tough, objective look had been taken on other issues in Scugog, some of the bitterness and hard feelings that erupted in the future might have been avert- ed. Disgusted by antics of Tax group To the Editor: I am disgusted with the ridiculous antics of the group, Citizens Against Unjustified Taxes. I walked out of the public meeting that was held June 22 to explain the processes used to determine the feasibility of new recreation facilities for our community. ' The meeting was taken over b; this group of citizens concerned about the increase in their local taxes where they proceeded to read prepared statements about high taxes. This was done after they shouted down other opinions and threatened the chairman when he said that he was going to adjourn the meeting. I, too, am concerned about the taxes that I have to pay, but I cannot condone public meetings being taken over for purposes other than the reason for which they were called. This was not a meeting of Council and therefore did not have the authori- ty to discuss taxation matters. by Lynn johnston These people justified their ac- tions by stating that the advertise- ment announcing the meeting stated that it was called to get in- put from the public. This is incor- rect. The advertisement clearly states that the meeting was call- ed to outline the methods for receiving input from the public. Tt is unfortunate that the Citizens Against Unjustified Taxes are resorting to anarchistic methods to make their point. Such actions simply cannot be tolerated in a democratic society. They should be ashamed of themselves. They owe this com- mittee, the consultant, the Coun- cil and the people of Scugog Township an apology, Keith Hobbs, Scugog Township. Trust me it's no joke To the Editor: The attached clipping from Saturday's Globe and Mail was too much to pass up. It renewed some painful memories. So typical in the House of Com- mons, our elected representatives defend our rights so diligently while they are the Loyal Opposi- tion. Have you noticed? : Other wise, we don't count for much anymore. Indeed, there are too many ex- --------t---- amples to cite. In respect to the VIA Rail issue, the same arguments are as relevant today, and similarly ignored up there, just as they were in 1980 when Jean Luc Pepin ultimately crippl- ed our rail service. Remember? Believe me, it's no joke. Leslie A. Parkes, Box 604, Port Perry, Ont. IT'S NO JOKE Here I am reading Rosemary (Turn to page 12) , J EMMERSON 193 QUEEN ST., PORT PERRY, ONT. LOB 1NO . (416) 985-7306 ALL LINES OF " GENERAL INSURANCE "+". HOMEOWNERS + FARM - AUTO i ERY COMMERCIAL, . ,.. wow ¥ VA eT EUR | SR ST RE Str