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"A Family Tradition for 128 Years" nN our readers McDonald's brings jobs, money To the Editor: With regard to the recent news- paper coverage at last week's council meeting on the voiced ob- Jections to the "Golden Arches" coming to Port Perry, please con- sider the following points: - A McDonald's in Port Perry would provide employment, espe- cially our youth; - McDonald's are known for their support of hospitals and the community, i.e. Ronald McDo- nald House, Hospital Day, etc. - Location in Port Perry would deter our youth from travelling, especially in extreme weather conditions and late at night. This has to be a parental concern of many in the community; - Kids love to have their birth- days at McDonald's; where else can this be accommodated in Port Perry at present? - Any establishment that serves food could be regarded as a potential place for vermin, but surely the Department of Health regulations would not allow an unsafe, unclean environment at a McDonald's or any other estab- lishment. - Traffic is evident at any cor- ner in Port Perry; it is a way of life. - Port Perry is not a "sleepy lit- tle town" but a growing, progres- sive suburban area; the business- es, council, service clubs and residents work hard to improve our image and public relations. To "stand still" would be to re- gress. - Have you ever experienced an unclean McDonald's - even the washrooms? - What is the difference of turn- ing into the Mac's store, Halibut House, the Country Style, the XL, etc.? The setting for "conven- ience" has already been prece- dented in this area by the location of these "fast" convenience loca- tions. - A traffic study would no doubt show that the corner of 7A and Simcoe Street is already highly utilized. Isn't that why we have a traffic light? Give the planning people some credibility. - It is understood that McDo- nald's will conform to the archi- tectural presentation of their lo- cations, e.g. the Picton location. However, this location would not deem it necessary to do so in this instance, since the "neighbors" have a "convenience store look and display their own particular logos. - Where does all this negativity come from? Local residents demo- cratically select the local munici- pal council and should then trust them to make the appropriate de- cisions for the good of the majori- ty. - Council should perhaps take note that although there were up to 100 persons voicing negative opinions on this issue, the re- mainder of the electorate were ob- viously positive. Once again, the silent majority is overshadowed by these loud N.I.M.B.Y .s! - Let's progress - not protest! A new century is looming. M. Hoskin Mills misses mark on medicine As a citizen of the Township of Scugog, I appreciate the medical services that have been offered in Port Perry. Mr. Mills' letter in your paper last week deserves a response. Its wording and per- spective require clarification and correction. Yes. Doctors operate small businesses. Yes, they are paid by taxpayers, but that doesn't make them slaves to the Ontario gov- ernment. They are paid accord- ingly to each service they provide to the public. The Social Contract has required that doctors offer no services for a number of days dur- ing the three-year period. They have significant costs such as in- surance, employees, and office overhead just to mention a few. Therefore, it is a sound business decision to close the offices com- pletely during "Rae days." Even if a few doctors stayed on duty at the clinic, they would be overloaded with lineups. Patients would be impatient because ser- vice would be slow. The province still pays money to doctors for ser- vices rendered whether their of- fices are closed or not. Either way, the public is inconven- ienced; money is not saved. That is not the doctor's fault. Mr. Mill's claim that the Social Contract was "negotiated" is mis- leading. The Social Contract was an imposed, emergency measure which was a direct result of Onta- rio's mismanaged, debt-ridden economy. To blame doctors, More letters: Pages 9 and 10 teachers, police etc. for this is wrong. Mr. Mills, by condemning the doctors of Port Perry for the closing, is refusing to acknowl- edge he and his party's free- spending habits are responsible for the Social Contract. He is playing politics with health care. Mr. Mills deserves credit for keeping his office open during "Rae days," in spite of the Social Contract. However, I am positive that real money will be saved when we close his office perma- nently after the next election. Port Perry and area residents . should ask Mr. Mills during the election campaign why he and his party have chosen to pursue less medical service instead of less ex- pensive, more efficient medical service. Also we should ask why money saved through the Social Contract is now being spent in the form of pre-election promises. Llewellyn Jones, Nestleton. by Jeff Mitchell THEIR RECKONING IS NIE VALOUR AND HORROR: It was with relief last Wednesday night that | pulled into the driveway after another long day in the community newspaper trenches. It was 11 o'clock precisely, and my family slept. Creeping through the kitchen, | grabbed a cold beer from the fridge and sat down for the evening news. And was confronted with the horror in Oklahoma. Sporadic radio newscasts throughout the day and updates by my colleagues who had dashed home for lunch to glance at the tube had given a vague impression of what had occurred; a huge car bomb exploding in front of a federal building.., carnage and terror in the American Heartland. But the images relayed to me, first by Newsworld and then courtesy of the overhyped twits at CNN, finally brought it all home: Innocent men and women blown to bits by the blast; kids the age of mine caught in the crossfire and slaughtered; ordinary people confronted with a living, technicolor nightmare from which they could not wake. | had not been so jarred by television images since the massacre in Tiennemen Square, when the tanks rolled in and crushed peacenik students who for the previous weeks had thumbed their noses at their dictatorial overlords. The Horror. The Horror. A crying woman, bloodied and covered with soot, rocked in the street as she spoke to a television reporter and told him that she had lost her husband and children -- a boy and girl, aged 3 and 4. "Whoever did this," she said with remarkable composure, "I hope you're happy." Not to worry. Even if Bill Clinton and all the federal agents and investigators and cops together can't catch all the swine who perpetrated this crime, God eventually will. And for them will be set aside a special place in Hell where they will spend eternity, forced to watch the nauseating coverage provided by CNN -- perfectly-coiffed waterheads, faking grim concern while striving to conceal glee at the thought of soaring ratings -- interrupted only by Preparation H commercials. : A pox on them. CALLING ALL CANDIDATES: The registration deadline for candidates seeking to occupy the council seat for Port Perry's Ward 2 arrives in a couple of days, with an election a month down the road. We at The Star want to provide fair and complete coverage for the race, and are therefore offering to run candidate profiles, just like the ones we carried prior to last November's municipal vote. A word of advice: Book early. This is an increasingly busy time, and we're finding ourselves double and triple-booked virtually every hour of every day. Please give me a call at 985-7383, and we'll slot you in for some time to talk about the issues as you see them. Let's hit that Campaign Trail, pardners. Random Joffings by J. Peter Hvidsten A NEW FARMING PUBLICATION Last week the Port Perry Star family farm for a number of pili or ars some useful information you would like to share with others... give us a call. We want to make Farm and Country Life an important part of your monthly reading, but rely heavily on our local agricultural community to let us know what they want to read. To help fulfill our goal, the Star is looking for a in bhi ion the yl and drippedons fhe 1 introduced a new product to our iL. readers... one aimed directly at our r important farming. community. Farm and Country Life will be a regular monthly section of the Star and will focus on the local farm- ing community providing informative news on trends, equipment and issues relating directly to the farming industry. But most important, we want to feature stories about local farm operations and to this end we will need your help. If you have an interesting farming story to tell; freelance writer, preferably with some farming background, who would like to assist in writing feature stories for Farm and Country Life. If you're interested, give us a call at 985-7383 at your earliest convenience. THE CURSE OF VANDALISM In the past couple of weeks we've reported a number of cases of vandalism in the community. The latest, over the Easter weekend, when van- dals broke into Greenbank Public School and caused considerable damage, including the scrawling of racist slogans on blackboards. This episode brought to mind a case of school metal brackets right out of the roof. It's difficult for responsible people to understand what pleasure a person gets from destroying the property of others. Over the years we've reported stones thrown though windows, tires slashed, cemetery stones toppled, schools 'vandalized, decorations destroy- - | ed, Christmas lights stolen'and much more. Vandalism makes absolutely no sense and it ser-. ves no useful purpose in this, or any community. The thousands of dollars spent annually on repairing and replacing vandalized property, could go to a far better use. ee