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PORT: PERRY STAR: Tuebdhy; August'1s, 1989 -- 7 BACK AT. THE MAC Holidays are great. | have just retumed froma couple of weeks in the "north country" lounging the time away at a delightful cottage on the banks of the Ottawa River. There's nothing like some time in the fresh clean air to clear the senses, and believe me, the air was fresh (and cold) For two days we did our lounging in winter jackets and the nights found us scrambling for extra blankets as the mercury dipped into the mid-30's F. Holidays of course, always fly by far too quick- ly, and here on a Monday morning, | find myself back behind the Mac trying to sort out my thoughts to put together a column, which if not earth- shattering, is at least readable. You know what the toughest thing about get- ting back to work after two weeks away is? Discov- ering that the office did not fall into a shambles dur- ing your absence. The place did not go to pieces. There was no panic around the PP Star while | was sipping a cool drink on the beach watching a pair of loons cavort in the cool, clear waters of the Ottawa River. Nosiree. The paper was published on time, and the issues look darn good thanks to the efforts of reporters Julia Ashton and Rob Streich, and pub- lisher Peter Hvidsten. oo Nice work, guys, though my ego is a bit ruffled to think that everything appeared to go smoothly during my absence. Heck, if | had known you could do such a good job without me, | would have taken that cottage for a few more days. Seriously, it is nice to be back. Viewpoint by John B. McClelland I must admit the decision to take a cottage for the vacation this summer was a bit of a gamble. You never quite know what adventure waits for you. It could be the pump Quitting, or the well run- ning a or the septic backing up in the middle of @ night. And there is always the weather. Driving north, the thought of spending rainy days cooped up in a cottage with three active kids left me with perspira- tion on my brow and my palms. But thankfully, none of the above h ned. In fact, aside from a couple of cool (no cold) days and nights, things were almost perfect. The cottage, which | rented over the phone early in July, turned out to be a small chunk of par- adise, freshly renovated with a modern kitchen, Jour Hiese bath, and a sturdy porch over-looking @ river. Having spent my youth and teen years in that art of the Ottawa Val oy (between Pembroke and attawa) | was very familiar with the area. But sitting there on the porch of that cottage drinking in the view of the mile wide Ottawa River and the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, | had to pinch myself several times on how un-touched that part of the Valley has remained. | was amazed that an area of Ontario just two hours drive from the nation's capital was not crawl- ing with cottagers, campers and tourists. During the week, boat traffic on the river was virtually non-existent, aside from a few fishermen and the occasional houseboat. And the Quebec side is nothing but endless stretches of sand beach, rocky points and forest. There are no roads, no houses, no cottages, no fampgrourids. You can pull your boat onto the Que shoreline at noon and literally not see an- other soul all day. | could not help but wonder just how long it will before the area "gets discovered" and turns into a "mini Muskoka" or even a Haliburton. The lodge where we stayed had perhaps a dozen cottages, most right on the beach, but sever- al of them were vacant the entire time we were there. The beach in front of our place was deserted much of the time. It was almost like having one's own private beach. The coltage had a small colour TV which pulled in one CBC channel, and at night the AM ra- dio signals faded in and out. | tried a couple of times to tune in an evening Blue Jay game on the faulio, but the weak signal was an exercise in frus- ration. : Buying a Toronto newspaper meant a five mile drive to the nearest town, but this added to the sense of isolation at being off the beaten path. There are some signs that things may soon change in this un-spoiled corner of Ontario. River- front property prices are starting to creep up, the owner of the : nously, there is talk that the government may build boat by-passes around the hydro dams on the river between Rolphton and Ottawa. That, sadly, would open this stretch of the river (Turn to page 8) lodge told me. And perhaps more omi- When 70 YEARS AGO Thursday, August 21, 1919 Last Sunday the barns and house belonging to Mr. Charles Lamb at Manchester were burned to the ground. Members of the Port Perry Fire Brigade went out to assist putting out the fire but could do nothing. The fire destroyed house, barns, hay and three horses. Their insurance was not sufficient to cover the loss. } 45 YEARS AGO Thursday, August 31, 1944 Capt. W.T. Harris, Mrs. Harris and daughter Miriam of Ot- tawa are spending two weeks with relatives in town. Miss Norma Ploughman has been visiting Mrs. Herb Ar- buckle in Cobourg during the past week prior to attending Business College. Little Alfred and Vera Newnham are spending a couple of weeks in Toronto and Scarboro Bluffs. Mrs. N. DeShane and daughter, Mrs. Howard Chapman, and Mr. and Mrs. Harry DeShane, returned home on Sunday after a pleasant week's holiday with relatives in Syracuse, N.Y. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, September 2, 1954 Cadet Lt. Arthur Warriner, 15, and Cadet Clive Boyd, 16, both of the Port Perry High School Cadet Corps were among 1500 Royal Canadian Army Cadets who graduated from Ipperwash Cadet Camp last Monday. Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Vance both had their hair singed by tening while sleeping. Their bed was situated in the corner the lightening came in. It did considerable damage to their home but the Port Perry Fire Brigade soon extinguished what fire there was after Mr. Vance drove to Port Perry to notify the Fire Department being his phone was also put out of order. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, September 3, 1959 Aileen Snooks, Port Perry, won $89,00 in the 50-50 draw of the local Junior Softball Club. Mr. and Mrs. B. Snegrove enjoyed a few days at the cottage of Mr. and Mrs. A. Roach. Carol and Allison Barry have returned from' Haliburton where they enjoyed vacation resort work. 25 YEARS AGO : Thursday, September 3, 1964 Bob McNeill, Queen Street, Port Perry, proudly displayed his 4% 1b. large mouth bass that he caught recently while on the causeway. A total of 2,043 telephone directories will be distributed this - year in Port Perry, an increase of 112 from last year. "Congratulations to Mr. Herb Hooey, Blackstock, who : (Turn to page 12) Letters the editor Largest tax grab in our history To the Editor: A $100 million loan to com- munist China while Canadians are about to face the largest tax grab in our history -- the new 9 percent Federal tax on virtually everything. Tax on tax with the 'provincial sales taxes. Unhappy with photo coverage To the Editor: Last week, a story was covered on the Ecuador and Canadian students who will be part of our community for 2% months. Being part of the program as a hostess family, I was very disap- pointed with the photograph that accompanied the story. How come Howard Hall became the main attraction? I can only im- agine the disappointment that these exchange students felt when they awaited the arrival of the newspaper. Out of all the pictures that were taken of them, now sud- denly disappeared behind the im- age of Howard Hall. I write this out of my own in- - itiative; but for in the future, please be more tasteful in your selection of photographs and spare us the politics. Michelle Kiezebrink R.R. 4 Port Perry PUB NOTE: We were also disaproiniad we could not run a photo of the Ecuador stu- della tnt ne photos taken did no out good eno to print. Sorry to Ero In the shadow of atrocities against its people fighting for democracy, "Santa Claus' Joe Clark, (like Trudeau before him) says he's loaning the money so that China can buy phone equip- ment from super-rich Northern Telecom, a subsidiary company of Bell. It was Bell that was ordered by the CRCT to refund over $200 million to customers overcharged by the monopoly. On June 1st Ottawa increased taxes on telephones from 10 to.11 percent from coast-to-coast, af- fecting 9.3 million phone users. What Ottawa didn't tell us was that Northern Telecom has open- ed a plant in China to Produce Telephones To Be Shipped Back To Canada For Sale Here. Cheap labor that will put more Cana- dians out of work! NT says "its a very financially attractive pro- Smile For The Day cess," one that they have been courting with China for 10 years. Why can't these phones be made in high unemployment areas like the Maritimes where from 10.4 up and 15.4 percent of workers have no jobs? Especially in areas hard hit by gov't closings of defence bases. Employed workers pay taxes, the unemployed draw on the economy. On July 18 CRCT ordered Bell to cut rates, charging that its 7.7 million customers face being overcharged some $356 million. On the same date Canadian Press reported that Bell was being pro- bed by the Human Rights Com- mission for discrimination in its employment practices. While food banks run low here at home for the needy, Ottawa (Turn to page 8) "OF COURSE I LIKE THE SIMPLE THINGS OF LIFE. I MARRIED YOU, DIDN'T I?"