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6- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, August 9.1994 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" > PORT PERRY STAR DITORIAL Editorial Comment If it ain't broke... The committee that's writing up recom- mendations for the future of acute care in Durham Region has received more than 100 submissions from the public, and are sitting down now to digest the comments and fine-tune their document for final sub- mission to the region's District Health Council. Here's hoping they sharpen their pen- cils. Because they will be making recom- mendations on the future of one of the community's most valuable and treasured resources: the local hospital. People have every reason to feel strongly about the review, and to take is- sue with the preliminary observations and recommendations that have been put forth by the committee. While stopping short of calling the report -- "Designing a Hospital System for the Future" -- a flawed document, local politicians and hospital officials are quick to point out its shortcomings. They say that an inventory of services here failed to take into account all that the local hospital provides, in effect short- changing Community Memorial Hospital. | They add that the concept of moving to | regional-type health care facilities with | less emphasis on the provision of some services locally will create problems and perhaps not be as cost-effective as envi- sioned. Scugog residents know they have a fine community hospital, and want to | keep it that way. They are aware as well | that not all procedures and services can | be provided here, and that they will occa- } sionally have to travel to larger regional facilities. But they rightly demand the continua- tion of services and facilities here at home. Hospital administration here are aware of the services they can provide, and are realistic about the limitations faced by a community facility such as theirs. But : they stress the need for the continuation | of some services now being provided, and a redefinition of some of the paper's terms of reference to reflect the realities of health care here. What they are saying is this: If it ain't . broke, don't fix it. The council is right to make a submis- . sion on behalf of Scugog residents, and | | we urge them to act swiftly and decisive- ly. We need our voices heard. NT SUMMER QREAT MOM -- ANE OANS UST Go ON Interview shows the honeymoon is over To the Editor: To: Alex Shepherd, M.P. Durham Rid- ing. t read the report of your interview with one of the Durham Region newspa- pers and instinctively felt that the hon- eymoon with our newly elected M.P. is over as now we're being lectured "to ex- pect less." Let me outline in accounting terms (your profession) a number of significant reductions in the balance sheet assets and increases in liabilities of Canadian taxpayers (in the senior's category) that have recently occurred due to tax in- creases imposed in the February 1994 Federal budget. The Lifetime Capital Gains tax is be- ing eliminated. Sure, capital gains that have accrued up to budget day will be ex- empt, however those who report their accrued capital gains may suddenly find that they will have to reimburse the gov- ernment for the Old Age Security pay- ments they have been receiving. In addi- tion the government is reducing the Old Age Tax Credit, which will significantly increase the tax burden of Canada's 3.4 million seniors. We seniors thought we had an Old Age Security Asset that would pay us about $400 per month, our employees took this into account when they established our pension plan, now it is being eliminated for many of Canada's seniors. There are a great number of seniors in Turn to Page 7 ------ A Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten » WHAT'S IN A NAME To this day I'm still not sure why we picked Matthew as the name } for our son, but by all [{/igF accounts we were not | alone as it has been one of the most popular names chosen for newborns over the past decade. And the name has still not lost its vs al according to a recent report from the Office of the Registrar General. While Michael has been the most popular name for newborn boys over the past three years, Matthew ran a close second during the same period. Here's an example of just how popular these two boys names were in 1993. Michael was the name of choice of 1,923 parents during the past year, while a mere 1,838 non-suspecting parents named their boy-child Matthew. I say "non-suspecting" because there is something about the name Matthew that brings out the devil in little boys. I know this to be true because I've lived with one for the past nine years and have witnessed this phenomenon first hand. I'll swear that every time the name Matthew is called out, it's in the direction of a kid doing something wrong. Or at least in the eyes of the parents it's wrong. Matthews seem to have this uncanny knack of knowing what's going to "bug" a parent and proceed to do it with glee. They also have acute sense of selective hearing. It doesn't seem to matter how loud a parent yells at a Matthew to pick up their toys, clean their bedroom, flush the toilet or brush their teeth, because they just continue their doings as if the parent didn't exist. On the other hand, when parents lower their voices to discuss something they don't want little ears to hear, a Matthew is quite capable of hearing every word, even if he's in another room with the TV blaring. This continues to amaze me! This column wasn't really supposed to dwell on Matthews, but names in general, so I'll get back on track now with some more interesting information about names. For starters, let's talk about girls! Did you realize the most popular name for baby girls over the past three years has been Jessica? Bet you didn't! And I'll bet you didn't you know the second most popular name for babies made of "sugar and spice and everything nice" over the same period was Sarah. The other names in the top 25 list for girls in order of their popularity are: Emily, amantha, Stephanie, Nicole, Ashley, Amanda, Rebecca, Brittany, Taylor, Victoria, Jennifer, Alexandra,~Michelle, Melissa, Rachel, Megan, Kayla, Danielle, Laura, Lauren, Cassandra, Emma and Courtnev. The top 25 boys names are as follows: Michael, Matthew, Ryan, Christopher, Brandon, Daniel, Alexander, Joshua, Andrew, Tyler, Kyle, Nicholas, David, Jordan, Justin, Joseph, James, Dylan, Jacob, Adam, Kevin, Eric, Robert, Jonathan and Zachary. The Registrar says that as a general trend, boys' names are more conservative than those selected for girls. Also, parents tend to vary the spelling of boys' names legs frequently than girls' names. Just beware of Matthews! LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Port Perry Star encourages its readers to make use of the letters to the editor column to express their opinions and viewpoints on just about any subject, as we feel a lively letters column will help make this a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that all letter writers sign their name and include a phone number for verification. Sorry, anonymous letter will not be published unless The Star believes it to be in the best interest of the public. We also reserve the right to edit letter with respect to their length, content or libelous comments.