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ba PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 13, 1990 -- 7 3 En DULLSVILLE Scugog Township council, the seven men and women you elected to office back in November, 1988, are just about mid-way through the three-year term. ~~ And so far, at least, this council has been "dulls- ville." Council meetings, held most Mondays are oh, so boring. And that folks, is how it should be. From my van- tage point, this council, has for the most part just stuck to the business you elected it to do. In contrast to other councils in the Region, Oshawa and Newcastle readily come to mind, where the meetings are punctuated by bitter squabbling, conflicts, and personality clashes that bubble to the surface for all to see, Scugog council is a model of decorum. As a newspaper editor, | sometimes secretly wish Scugog council meetings were more volatile, that there was name-calling, badgering, accusations, grand-standing etc., all of which would result in juicy headlines and stories for the journal you are holding in your hands. But alas, so far, anyway, that has not transpired. And thank goodness it hasn't. Despite the fact it might make "good copy," it doesn't make for good local government. And in this day and age of tax dollars stretched to the absolute limit, and councils being called on to make very im- portant decisions that impact on the present and fu- ture citizens of this community, it is good to see this council just go about its work in a calm, cool and businesslike fashion. That's not to say there are not differences of opinion and strong, vigorous debate at time. But to their credit, these councillors have kept the level of debate civilized. At least that's been the case at the Viewpoint HR a Sa a many meetings | have attended since the election. The other thing that has not happened yet in the term of this council is a "hot, volatile" issue. We have yet to see this council perform under intense public pressure when emotions and tempers run high. Council is dealing with important issues, to be sure, but none that has galvanized public opinion and packed the council chambers the way the library issue did a decade ago, or more recently, the so- called fairgrounds issue. Now, those made for "hot times in the old town hall." Some may say that dull meetings make for dull councillors and in turn dull decisions. But | don't buy that argument for one minute. On the contrary, deci- sions made strictly on emotion, or out of spite, or just to "get the other guy," are bad decisions that don't serve the people of this community. And besides, if one wants to watch a political three-ring circus, tune in Question Period from the House of Commons each night. It's great entertain- ment, up to a point. Then one is tempted to flip the channel to Johnny Carson or Pat Sajak. So to Mayor Howard Hall and his group of (usu- ally) happy and civil campers Yvonne Christie, Don Cochrane, Glenn Malcolm, Al Goreski, Marilyn Pearce and Neil Hunter, dull meetings are good meetings. And if late some Monday afternoon, you notice yours truly starting to nod a bit, forgive me, for it's been a long day. TRAFFIC WOES One issue that council has been grappling with over the last several weeks involves the construction of a plaza on the south side of Hwy. 7A at Water St. Council finally gave the project the green light a week ago, though a couple of members, Yvonne Christie and Marilyn Pearce have strong mis-givings and said so publicly. The provincial highways department will not al- low an entrance into that new plaza from Highway 7A, despite the fact an entrance would line up almost perfecty with Water Street and could be controlled by the existing traffic signals at the intersection of Water and 7A, which makes logical good sense. Apparently, the highways department will permit this signalized entrance some time in the future after Highway 7A has been widened through that area of Port Perry. Only trouble is that could be three, five, maybe ten years down the pipe. In the meantime, the en- trance into the plaza will come off Carnegie Street, much to the dismay of local residents, or via the al- ready built plaza just to the east, much to the dismay of shop owners there who say there is enough con- gestion without more cars passing in front of their stores. Council gave approval late last year for the foun- dation and floor of the plaza to be constructed, think- ing that the entrance would be from 7A at the signals. And the developer, James Taylor, thought that too. In fact, he had a letter from the department stat- ing as much. And when the land was assembled, there were three residences on the land, all with en- trances onto 7A. Those residences, by the way, were zoned commercial and could have been converted to shops, each with its own entrance. All Mr. Taylor wanted was one entrance for his new plaza. But the Highways people changed their minds, until 7A is widened some time in the future. The traffic problems along 7A already are difficult at best, and through no fault of Mr. Taylor or the (Turn to page 10) Remember When? 45 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 15, 1945 Mrs. H.L. Richardson of Portage La Prairie, Man., and Mr. and Mrs. R. Peckham of Port Credit, were in Myrtle last Tues- day, calling on Miss Helen Richardson. Mr. Frank Dowson, Betty, Art and Glen were Sunday visitors of his son Joe and Mrs. Dowson, Scugog. Several from Greenbank attended the Nugent sale in Brock last Friday. Miss Dorothy Williams attended a conference of the Bell Telephone Co. in Toronto last week. Mrs. A.C. Clifford and daughter, Kerry Virginia, have returned from visiting in Arvida, Quebec, and are staying with Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Bentley. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 17, 1955 The Master Feeds Pee Wee's captured the Central Ontario Crown for the second straight year, defeating Cobourg in the finals. Mr. Walter Howsam has sold his house in Manchester to Mr. Charles Howsam. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Howsam have moved to their new apartment at the White Rose Service Station. Congratulations to Donna Samells, who placed second in class 156 of the Kiwanis Music Festival held in Peterborough on Friday evening of last week. Miss Samells' selection was Bet- thoven's Sonata. Mr. Lorne Cann, Winnipeg, spent a few days with his aunt Mrs. James Henry and called on several other friends in the Blackstock area. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 17, 1960 The Figure Skating Club have staged another successful show in their Rhapsody on Ice, which was presented in the Memorial Arena last Friday evening. This year two of the solo numbers were taken by local talent. Miss Margaret Ann Withers- poon gave us a beautiful exhibition of skating and Miss Margaret Terrett had us all laughing with her excellent clowning. Last Saturday Port Perry was visited by a couple of men who proved most unwelcome before they left town. The two were fast change artists and managed to obtain some $30.00 or more before Chief Cameron was notified and able to warn the local merchants to be on the look out for them. Last Thursday, Mr. Litt and Mr. Buckner took the grade 10 Agricultural boys of Port Perry High School on a tour of John Hamer's farm at Myrtle and Gray Bros. farm at Manchester. (Turn to page 10) Letters to the editor Hall shouldn't be used for a school To the Editor: On Thursday March 8, I attend- ed a public meeting at the Nestleton Community Centre to hear a presentation by the Catholic Church. The presenta- tion was a request to use the com- munity centre as a temporary Catholic elementary school The idea is to use the centre and add portable classrooms on land as yet not deeded, as a school un- til a church can be built with funds not yet available and again on land as yet not deeded. The funds for upgrading the hall for use as a school would be provid- ed by the School Board. The presenter, Mr. Tom Lynch, did not know how much the upgrading would cost as it was be- ing paid for by the School Board. It was pointed out that this was tax payers money but Mr. Lynch's attitude was one of fiscal irresponsibility, he did not care Support for English signs To the Editor: In full support of Lloyd Dawson, "English Signs," your publication of March 6. In counter of Mr. White of Feb. 27, Dawson very rightly makes the point that while the provincial government picks up the tab for francophone services it, in turn, does not 'just pick it off the trees." Surely White and others must begin to realize that we are not stupid and that in the end, "we all pay." While I have pen in hand, and to reflect the views of a number of dinner guests present, we wonder where our M.P. Ron. Stevenson stands on various critical issues of the day? Exam- ple, special status for Quebec while Mulroney and Peterson dump on Sault Ste. Marie and other municipalites but apparent- ly sanction Quebec's defiance of the Supreme Court of Canada re the French only sign law, etc.. I for one, have attempted to telephone Mr. Stevenson on these issues, but only to be told he is out of the country of "government business." However, and to be fair, we in- vite Mr. Stevenson to comment via your paper and in so doing to reach and educate a wide number of his constituents. Yours Truly G. Collingbourne Durham. about the cost. The students were to be signed up from a Port Perry School, and from the Manvers area. Although Manvers is out of the school "district Mr. Lynch though that it would be necessary to do so to get the student numbers up to a viable level. It was mentioned that there was an empty school in Raglan, and that some students in Port Perry and area could go: there. This would relieve the con- gestion in Port Perry and solve the school building problem. Mr. Lynch said that this option was not possible as Raglan was in another school district. I cannot see the difference between Manvers and Raglan. If Mr. Lynch was prepared to go to the Ministry of Education in order to (Turn to page 8) 'Oh, don't worry about me having any trouble with the kids...my Dad's a policeman."*