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A IRATE ERP EA rt 6 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, January 25,1994 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" 188 MARY STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO PHONE (905) 985-7383 Subscription Rate: 6 Months -$17.72 includes $1 22GST 1Year-$32.10 includes $2 10 GST The Port Perry Star FAX 985-3708 I'he Port Perry Star 1s authonzed as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, for cash payment of postage Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Foreign-$90.95 includes $5 95GS|1 EDITORIAL LoL 1B7 RIBBON LULU ADVERTISING Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten News Editor - Scott Anderson Features Editor - Juha Dempsey Sports Editor - Kelly Lown Advertising Manager - AnnaJackman Advertising Sales - Jackie McDonell, Advertising Sales - Paul Hillier Production - Pamela Hickey, Barbara Bell BUSINESS OFFICE Office Manager - Gayle Stapley Retail Sales - Kathy Dudley, Retail Sales - Marlene Moore PRODUCTION Annabell Harrison, Trudy Empringham, Susan Milne, Cane Robert Taylor, rT Accounting - Judy Ashby, Louise Hope CCNA 4 ¥CNA @ | Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Lid. Port Perry, Ontario * GST included In price Editorial Comment Opportunity For Change Throughout the last election, Jean Chretien and his Liberal candidates preached change. The Liberals guessed, and guessed right, that Canadians were seeking a radical change from the Pro- gressive Conservative government's way of doing politics. And when the Canadian public voted them in with a huge majority on October 25, it reinforced the want and need for change in the country that had grown dis- illusioned by politics in the past nine years. The past nine years. were years of broken promises, high taxes and policies which were not favored by the public which had voted them to power. Realizing this desire for change and a government accountable to the people, Mr. Chretien pieced together a plan to run the government. He outlined the scheme in a book entitled "Creating Op- portunity: The Liberal Plan for Canada." This book is commonly referred to as "the red book." So when it .came time to present the Throne Speech in Ottawa last week, there were no real surprises. As Prime Minister Chretien put it "It's all in the red book." The Throne Speech, presented by Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn, prom- ised a Youth Service Corps to put young Canadians back to work, the reintroduc- tion of a home renovation assistance pro- gram, measures to help small business raise capital and help for exporters, better job and literacy training. programs to combat racism, hate crimes and racism against children, an ethics counsellor to advise ministers and government offi- cials, and the elimination of double- dipping. In summing up the mood in the house last week, Durham MP Alex Shepherd said, "everybody realizes that the country is watching them. The next four years is very important in politics." Mr. Shepherd has hit the nail on the head. The next four years is important for politics, especially for the Liberal govern- ment. The party made promises during the election and reinforced last week dur- ing the Throne Speech. They are also contained in the "red book" It is now up to the government to prove that it is truly listening to the people by acting on all these promises. If it does, it will prove it is committed to change. If not it will have let down the public who asked for change. ANY WHEN THAT was taken in the 1920s. Pictured above is the Port Perry United Church Ladies Bible Class. The photo Letters to the editor Emergency forces put life on line To the Editor: [ have been struggling for several weeks to find the right words to express my thoughts and emotions concerning the community's response to the perfor- mance of our local police force. | started piecing this letter together at the time of all the hooplaoverl [alloween. [tis a sub- ject that had the local paper buzzing with letters, editorials, and news arti- cles. What was ever the outcome? Wnit- ing almost seems redundant now, yet be- cause I don't believe that the issue has been properly addressed it 1s even more important to me that I finish this letter. I'very day the men and women of our emergency forces, particularily the po- lice force, go out into the community and respond to the calls for help. And in do- ing so they are protecting the lives and property of the citizens of the communi- ty in which they serve. The police officers will be putting their own lives on the line for every response. Community support would be nice, yet what I see 1s a commu- nity debating about who 1s responsible for this; who 1s to blame for that. We are responsible for ourselves and for each other. Our thoughts and actions affect those around us. It exasperates me be- yond behef that the very institution that Turn to Page 7 Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten DEMAND GREATER THAN CAPACITY Every so often we are asked why an article submitted by a local group or individ- ual didn't get in the paper, or why it | wasn't printed in its entirety. It's a problem plaguing almost every newspaper today. As advertising reve- nues decline newspapers shrink in size, making it impossible to print all of the material being submitted for consideration. For those unfamiliar with the process of producing a newspaper, ad revenues are directly linked to the amount of news a newspaper can print. Quite simply stated, the more adver- tising a newspaper secures, the more pages it can produce and the more news of the community it can carry. What's happening today is no one's fault, it's just a sign of the times. But until things improve, occasionally some articles will have to be left out. In many communities, like Scugog, where more than one newspaper pub- lishes each week, readers get a double dose of some news, and miss out on oth- er news items which do not get pub- lished due to space restrictions. For example just last week Scugog's newspapers carried approximately two dozen similar reports and photographs. These included a police report, dog sled races, chamber of commerce annual meeting, waterline break at a local school, 50th anniversary, fire depart- ment report, snowmobile accident, Snow Flake Festival, letters to the editor, a number of photos and many sports reports. While most of the duplication is una- voidable, at times it seems unfair as some groups have a more difficult time attaining space in the papers. All organizations want and need as much coverage as possible for their activities and fund raising endeavors, but quite often space restrictions put limits on the amount of coverage we can provide. When at all possible The Star publish- es reports with little or no editing. This 1s much easier to do if the writers can keep their reports short and to the point, rather than rambling on for pages. If The Star runs out of space, we are fortunate to be able to print remaining news reports in the Scugog Shores News, thus avoiding outdated material. We recognize the time it takes to write reports and we are sensitive to your feel- ings of frustration if the material is not printed. So keep those cards and letters coming, and we'll do our very best to get it in print the same week it is submitted. PURSUING NEW INTERESTS | Effective the end of this week, staffer | Julia Dempsey begins a leave-of-absence from her duties at The Port Perry Star to pursue some personal interests. Julia has been a valued member of our staff for five years and her cheerful dis- position and bubbly personality will be missed by everyone in the office. Julia hikes people, and it showed in the way she would talk, listen and treat eve- ryone she encountered. We're sure the many people she has come in contact with in her capacity as features editor at The Star will also miss her. While Julia is pursuing other interests she has agreed to submit an occasional feature story or come in and help out with "putting the paper to bed," when we need her on Mondays. We wish Julia every success in her new venture and hope to see her back with us in the near future.