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feds Et US GS SEG iS vf FY g3no ad / JRC § 1 | IAPR 6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, May 8, 1990 The Port Perry Star 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO PHONE 985-7383 FAX 985-3708 The Port.Perry Star is authorized as second dass mail by the EDITORIAL Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten Editor - John B. McClelland News/Features - Julia Ashton News/Features - Kelly Story Post Office Department, Ottawa, for cash payment of postage. PRODUCTION ADVERTISING a Ay oe Seco i ji i Community Newspaper Association nd Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Annabell Harrison Advertising Co-ordinator - Valerie Ellis Published every Tuesday by the Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year Trudy Empringham Advertising Sales Representative - Anna Gouldburn Port Perry Star Co. Ltd. Port Perry, Ontario Elsewhere $60.00 per year. Single Copy 50¢ Darlene Hlozan BUSINESS OFFICE pr Office Manager - Gayle Stapley Mn Accounting - Judy Ashby A 3 Billing Department - Louise Hope C Retail Sales - Kathy Dudley, Linda Ruhl, Tracy O'Neil : Member of the- Canadian Community Newspaper Association Editorial Comment. WHAT'S GOING ON The names are familiar enough: Lynda Shaw, Vivian Bremner, Lois Hanna, Julie Stanton. Lynda Shaw, a 21 year old student stops her car on Highway 401 to repair a flat. She ends up murdered. Vivian Bremner, leaves her home on a Sunday to attend a friendly football game in a park and never arrives. Her body is found a few days later. She had been shot to death. Lois Hanna disappeared two years ago from her home in Kincardine. Police suspect foul play, though her body has nev- er been found. And police are expecting the worst in the disappearance of Julie Stanton. The 14-year old Pickering girl was last seen Easter Monday getting into a car near her home. The search "by police and civilians have been expanded into rural areas of Durham Region. As of last Friday, they were still searching. These are just four names; four cases. And perhaps they are mentioned here because they have been prominently in the news over the last few weeks. And they are all from south- ern Ontario. Even a casual reader of the front page of the daily papers need not stretch the memory too much to think of others over the last couple of years. Women of all ages, young girls, murdered, their bodies dumped in lakes or rivers, alongside rural roads, or just left wherever they fell when their lives ended. Just what in God's name is going on? Have we reached a point in society where women are no longer safe in their homes; getting to and from work or school; walking in public parks, or going out in the evening to a movie? : Violence against women takes many forms: child abuse, wife battering, sexual assault, verbal assault and threats, and cold-blooded - murder. Womens rights activists have long argued that violence against them is in-grained. Their argu- ments in the past often fell on deaf ears, and in some cases invoked snickers of derision from more than a few men. Is it any wonder that women have felt trapped by their gender, powerless to combat the vicious circles of violence perpetrated against them for no other reason except that they are women? Last Thursday, the very day that police discovered the body of Vivian Bremner, the Supreme Court of Canada was handing down a decision hailed by some womens groups as a landmark. : The Supreme Court unanimously up-held the 1986 acquit- tal by jury of a battered woman who had been charged with the murder of her common law husband. The Court, in its wisdom, ruled that a battered woman should not be obliged to show that she was in "imminent peril" in order to plead self-defence at a trial. The 32-year old woman, the subject of repeated physical abuse at the hands of her common law husband, shot him to death, fully believing that if she did not take that action that night, she herself would be be killed by him. Supreme Court decisions like this one may be a giant step forward for women to conduct their legal defense after they have been charged with killing their long time tormentors. And certainly, reasonable thinking people of both genders should be grateful the Court ruled the way it did last week. But the root causes of aii the different kinds of violence against women are not addressed by court decisions after the brutal fact. We don't know what the answers are. Does anybody real- ly know? How many more women and young girls will die be- fore society examines its fundamental attitudes and finds the courage to change them? As the horror shows are played out each day on the pag- es of the newspapers and the nightly newscasts it is no longer enough just to shake our heads in dismay, mutter "too bad, then bury our heads in the sand and hope it doesn't happen to somebody we know. It can happen, and sooner or later it will. al © GST STAFF of a ENTRANCE = 3 Yiey/ How aeour THAT ? Am | THE GUY WHO PROM = \SED J0B%,JOBS,JoBS, | OR WHAT 2" , their first birthday this week. SPECIAL DAY As you will know even before you start wedge between many members of the business community, and will ultimately destroy the shop- ping atmosphere so enjoyed by locals and visi- tors alike. While I'm not convinced the recent board decision to instigate a minimum/maximum pay- ment of funds is the entire culprit, it has indeed X made many of Happy Foret Bonthday : reading this column, a portion of it has been dedicated to our twins who are about to reach There have been many times during the past year, | never thought I'd live long enough to witness this im- portant milestone in their lives. But those long sleepless nights we experi- enced just a few months ago are now faded memories in our minds, although | can assure you, not forgotten. Nancy and | are pleas to report the twins are very healthy, they've cut their first teeth (two each on the t- dose Pecpie, not entirely happy with their self imposed taxation, voice their concerns in no un- -certain terms. Whatever the out |. .}- come of the Min/- | Mex suggestion, it: {.18 now apparent there are at least half the business people in the down- town core that would be happy to see the BIA dis- EERE a ET ---------- =r errs tom), they are in the - banded entirely. process of begin- This is indeed a ning to walk, taking : y dl | sad sityation! about five steps be- SRT: I J Jt wasn't that lo fore falling into wait- $3 5 ng ing arms, and they id ago the entire downtown business seem to brighten up community was the most dull of mornings. The worst a Nos, of Sigetier eave to be far be- Jamie Lee & Katie Lynn ojects that would InC.uS ana we are Saturday, May 12, 1990 pi a benefit to the now enjoying them to no end. And one of our biggest fears from the start, that our five year old son Matthew would not like his sisters, has proved to be completely un- founded. He loves them dearly. From all of us, Happy Birthday girls! TROUBLE BREWING There appears to be an unfortunate rift brewing between members of the recently formed BIA (Business Improvement Area) in downtown Port Perry. A rift that is driving a entire Eommuniy. And while jointly promoting their businesses, the BIA was also projecting to the public an image of co-operation and progressiveness that was the envy of many other similar sized communities. Surely, this won't all be lost by two factions being too stubborn to sit down across a table and work out their differences and concerns? There is far too much to lose here for every- one, consumers and retailers alike, to disband the BIA and see a return to the "you do your thing and I'll do mine" attitude