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10 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, November 7, 1989 Viewpoint by J. B. McClelland (From page 7) After a hockey game, you spend ten minutes scraping the ice from the windshield of the car, the drive home is frig- id because the damn heater isn't working, and when you get home, chances are the driveway needs to be shovelled. Is it any wonder people get mad at hockey games and stay mad once they are over? | don't think hockey bashing has anything to do with the violence on the ice and all that. And the American love affair with baseball has little do with double plays and strike-outs. It has everything to do with atmosphere and ambiance, the way baseball tickles the senses, and the way hockey actually assaults the senses in so many ways. | would venture to say that if there was some way for hockey to be 8 plajed in wide open parks on hot summer af- ternoons, and baseball was played in the restricting con- fines of old arenas in the dead of winter, the attitudes in the two countries would be different. Perhaps if hockey teams held their "training camps" in Florida where fans could bask in the sun and watch the boys of winter do stops and starts in slow motion, the re- sentment level would diminish. Personally, | happen to enjoy both sports just the way they are. Though | have to admit sometimes it is a lot more pleasant at the ball park than it is in a cold, drafty arena. Still, as a Canadian, | feel almost a sense of duty to re- main a supporter of the sport, and a defender when the crit- ics start harping in my face. | found the movie "Slapshot" (remember that) to be an absolute travesty, despite its success at the box office. It arodied every negative aspect of the sport, was complete- y unbelievable in every respect and in my opinion was an insult to anyone who has ever played hockey and/or en- joyed the sport. Can you imagine if a Canadian film company turned out a movie that deplcisd baseball in such a light? But that's another story. | understand "Slapshot Part 11" is in the works. Oh,boy. In the meantime, | like hundreds of thousands of other Canadians, will continue to watch hockey in cold, drab are- nas in the dead of winter, coffee cup in hand. In country that seems to make a habit of turning its back on traditions and institutions, this is one way that | can make a statement about something Canadian. 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. bi Columbus General Store Ist ANNIVERSARY November 10, 1989 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Join us for cake & coffee or have an ice cream cone. GAS BAR Premium Now Available. Diesel, Regular, Unleaded GAS BAR Mon. - Fri. 6-10 Mon. - Fri. 79 Sat. 7-10 Sat. 89 Sun. 810 Sun. 99 655-8050 655-8392 Letters to the editor Ghost Road nice, but is not a treat (From page 7) ty party was merely given a war- ning. A real incentive not to do this again!! The owner of the land adjacent to the road had to put gates across the field entrances to stop the '"partiers" from driving their cars all over the crops in the fields. There's not a lot he can do about them tearing down his fences and using the wood for building fires at the side of the road. Ghost Road is a beautiful place. It is bordered by lovely woods and is full of all kinds of wildlife. Dur- ing the day it has a peaceful, tran- quil atmosphere, ruined only by the garbage littering the fields and ditches. At night, its reputa- tion is such that someone felt safe to either commit murder and/or dump a body there. The drinking, drugs, drag racing, wanton destruction of personal property, and now murder, that go on on Ghost Road surely warrant some on-going, aggressive policing of the area. I hope the authorities will see fit to do something about it. Yours sincerely, C. Spielmann, Scugog Island Thank You for remembering To the Editor: Thank you for remember- ing...four very simple words, but to me, this November, they have taken on quite a different meaning. I really can't explain why this year I volunteered to help our local Legion with the annual Pop- py Drive, but I did. And now I find myself standing outside on a very cold overcast Saturday morning at our local grocery store pinning on the tiny red felt poppy that has become our symbol of remem- brance for all these many years.... The first person to approach me to buy his poppy is a young man in perhaps his early thirties..as I pin the scarlet flower to his hockey jacket I repeat the words that I will say over and over again this day....Thank you for remembering....This boy was not even born when so many young Canadians laid down their lives in places like Normandy or Dieppe...is he thinking that perhaps this small token, that we all wear in November, has made it possible for him to enjoy the life-style that we all take so very much for granted, Thank your for remembering....I wonder. Next to stop to buy our symbol of remembrance is an elderly cou- ple. I really can't guess how old this pair are, but as I pin the pop- py on them and repeat Thank you for Remembering, the old gentlemen's eyes mist over and he says "God Help us all if we ever forget' ....they move along perhaps remembering a son or a neighbour's son that did not come back from the fronts of Europe, Thank you for Remembering.... Next a very young Mother try- ing to control 3 extremely active tots, she drops her coins in the box and I pin the poppies on the squir- ming children as the Mother tries to tell them what the Poppy is for....they are too young, they really do not understand. Thank you for Remembering.... The wind seems to have picked up and the sun has disappeared behind a cloud...it's cold when a friend appears, a lady that has come to Canada as a War Bride, She places her neatly folded bill in the box and stands just a tiny bit taller as I pin on the wee flower....Thank you for Remembering... We will never forget....as she wipes a tiny tear and quickly rushes .in to do her weekly shopping. As I watch her disappear into the store I too seem to feel just a tiny bit warmer and the November chill really does not seem that bad....Thank you for Remembering... The next couple to approach are people that I know as good hard working farmers who came to Canada from Holland...They too let me pin on their poppies and they stand with me and tell me about what it was like for them when their community was liberated by our young Canadian boys of yesteryear...and yes in- deed they will wear their poppy and you can bet that they too were repeating my words... Thank you for Remembering.... Time has a way of making the past seem so much better that perhaps it really was, but this November as I stop and chat with my neighbours and friends and as I pin on that tiny symbol of remembrance I have time to reflect and indeed think about all the families who must be looking at the bright red poppies and still must feel the pain even after all these years.... I will wear my poppy this year and it will mean just a tiny bit more to me as I remember and pray to God that we never forget and that the Red Poppy be a sym- bol of Remembrance and Peace so that we might never have to know the agony of the Past again....Thank you for remembering.... Yours Truly, Doreen Kendall R.R. 4 Port Perry College teacher strike Is costly to students To the Editor: It is a traditional view that the path to an enlightened society is achieved through an educated society. If this is held to be true, then one can only conclude that the present situation at the On- tario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATS) is facilitating a rapid return to the dark ages. On October 18th, Na- tional Students Day, the teachers at Ontario's 22 Community Col- leges walked off the job. The strike by the faculty of the Colleges (and under the auspices of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union) is, surprising- ly enough, not about education. It's not designed to get back the program hours lost last year due to budget restraint. It's not being used to secure a badly needed in- fusion of capital into the system so that aging equipment can be replaced with that which is cur- rently used in industry. It's about lifetime job security, sick leave, and salaries. In the meantime, there are over 100,000 full time, and many more part-time students who are not in the classroom. The strike is costing them. Heavily. Let me give you an example: *Any exten- sion of the school year means ad- ditional rent payments, time lost from summer jobs, which help pay for next year's school, and a reduction in the number and Free Pickup & Delivery Free Estimates COUNTRY UPHOLSTERY 705-328-1156 quality of summer jobs available. So who cares? I do. I am the Student President at your local Community College. Working with the Ontario Community Col- lege Student Presidents Associa- tion (OCCSPA), I'm trying to get the students back to school. OCC- SPA is an organization made up of the Student Presidents of the 22 Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology. Between us, we represent over 100,000 full time, and 900,000 part-time students enrolled at the colleges. Chances are you are one of them. Our position is simple. This strike is about jobs, not education. We want to see the faculty back in the classroom, doing what they are supposed to be doing. Let the negotiating teams and the provin- cial mediator handle the rest. If you are a student, or just a citizen concerned about what's going on instead of education, help us out. Write to your MPP. You don't need a stamp. Even better, call him or her. Let thein know that you are angry. Call your local faculty Union Presi- dent. Tell them that you want to start learning again. Let's make schools a place where students go. Again. Sincerely, Brian F. Coghill President, Durham College Student Administrative Council DONNA ANDERSON OG THE indow$9Bo - CRAFT SHOP featuring ... 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