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"A Family Tradition for 128 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, September 19, 1995 -7 LETTE RS from our readers Has Tory popularity peaked? To the Editor: Mike Harris's administra- tion's popularity may have peaked. The Education Minister Sno- belen, a millionaire dropout from school, in an address to senior Education Ministry offi- cials, asked them to "be proac- tive" to change and invent an education crisis to justify radi- cal changes to the education system. One wonders if such changes are necessary. If there are nega- tive and unproductive influenc- es within provincial learning in- stitutions, should senior staff lie to valify the rationale behind the reasons for change? Should the minister resign his cabinet post if all this is a political ruse? If changes are necessary, then make them but don't try to deceive the public acceptance of them by selling us such a bill of goods. The changes, if needed, will stand or fall on their own merits. One likens this to Mike Har- ris last year giving publicity (and thereby credence to his platform) of a woman quitting her job to go onto welfare, there- by whipping up public senti- ment against welfare cheaters. As part of his 'common sense revolution' he castigated those on welfare who would rip off the system, leading us to believe To the Editor: The Scugog Youth Soccer Club recently heldtheir annu- al general meeting with a good crowd in attendance. The past season saw approx- imately 750 soccer players playing in the Scugog Club. Teams were entered in many different leagues and faired very well. The under 17 Win- chester Arms Girls team took first place in the Durham Girls League. The newly formed Ladies team did very well, were very competitive and finished at the top of their league. The Men's team finished in the bottom spot but they took first place Courtice to the limit in the play-offs, tying two games and losing the other game in the four point series before bowing out. The first part of the meeting was open and the executive heard many good comments and of course a few sugges- Youth Soccer Club has had a successful year tions on how to better the league for the next year. The election of the executive was held for the 1996 season. Roy Cowling - President, Emi- ly Cosway - Secretary, Scott Cruickshank - Treasurer, Theresa McGuin - Registrar. The following will be dirrec- tors - Colin Dodd, Dennis Romeril, Neil Menear, Don Farquharson, Janice Ansell, Brian Donohue, Gord Wallace, Wayne Wilson, Aldon Smith, Stephen Aked, Pam Egley, Chris Wooten, Sara Cosway, Brenda Bulloch, Tom Ansell, Ron Cosway. The first meeting for the 1996 executive and directors will be held Thursday, Sept. 21 in room 204 at the High School. Future meetings will be held the third Thursday of every month, please mark your calendars. Ron Cosway, Port Perry. that he and his party were the ones to stop this and other in- justices against other provin- cial programs. Welfare officials say that the approx. 3 per cent of questiona- ble recipients has not changed, but to what end? Paying down the deficit? ¢ One wonders if the govern- ment is building a straw house now, only to knock it down later. Cabinet ministers must be above reproach. One wonders if such a strategy is becoming a pattern, and hopes that honesty and creditability will prevail. Bill Williams Oshawa Appalled by minister To the Editor: As a parent of a high school student, I was appalled by the remarks and video proof against our Education Minis- ter John Snobelen. It was not just a slip of the tongue, as Premier Harris and Snobelen would like us to be- lieve. Everyone saw and heard it. No one can ever convince me otherwise. I could see Transportation Minister Al Paladini making a stupid remark, but this is dif- ferent. It was a planned attack on the education system for his agenda of trickery and deceit. I am ashamed to have Sno- belen as our Education Minis- ter. How can you ever trust him again? Premier Harris should now do the right thing, get the egg off his face, and fire this loser once and for all, never to be heard of again. Ride into the sunset John, and good riddance! Herman van der Veen, Oshawa by Jeff Mitchell CRISES 'R US... CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? ...Education Minister John Snobelen found himself in a sticky wicket last week when a videotape (damn those things!) surfaced which showed him pacing feverishly in front of a bunch of bureaucrats, spouting off about how he would have to "invent" a "crisis" in order to manipulate the education system in the way he wants. The preposterous "languaging" employed by the minister aside, what's really silly about this episode is that there's no need to "invent" any crises on the education front at all. Consider: ~ a Students still emerge from our public schools-tacking the fundamental literacy skills they will need to function and ultimately survive and thrive in a modern world. a Inner-city schools have become seething hotbeds of violence and racial tension. Kids come to school armed, either to intimidate or deflect intimidation. a Thousands of children across the province arrive at school each morning without breakfast in their bellies. They are too hungry to concentrate, and cannot learn. Some local programs are in place to address this sad fact, but Premier Iron Mike Harris has so far not acted on his demands -- made while in opposition -- that the province do something about it. a Meanwhile, the Tories have hacked school budgets for this operating year, and trustees tremble at what may come down the pike in 1996. In Durham, where, to be fair, there is an effort made at responsible budgeting, they're wondering just how in hell to keep the shop open. So: You want a crisis, Mr. Snobelen? Take your pick. We're knee-deep in 'em. PASS THE PEAS, LORD: An interesting question was posed by a radio thing the other morning: If you could have a figure from history drop around your place for dinner, who would it be? | thought about this for-a time: Napolean? Nah. Too pushy. Rasputin? Ugh. Too smelly. Humphrey Bogart? He smokes too much. Then it came to me: Jesus. He'd be wonderful, enchanting company, and I've always wanted to meet the guy anyway. Grace would be no problem with Jesus at the table. And when you run out of wine? Hey: He's your man. WHAT, ME WORRY? ...Ominous rumblings out of Russia, where they're upset over NATO's bombardment of their Serb pals. Relations have sunk to their lowest point since Boris (Another Round!) Yeltsin became president. Should this worry us? No. Russia's broke, and run by a bumbling drunk. Russia has more internal strife than even Canada, and is guilty of the same attrocities -- remember Chechnya? -- for which the Serbs took an international pounding. | don't believe there's any real second-guessing about the actions taken by NATO among us ordinary folks. We did the right thing, and it's about time. -------------------------------------------- Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten last week. Big deal. THANK GOODNESS IT'S OVER! O'k, Ok .... so | had a birthday Everybody has birthdays. They come once a year whether we like it or not, so why all the fuss? | didn't feel any different Sept. 14 than | did a day earlier... or for that matter, a year earlier. And if the truth be know, | actually feel physically better now than | did five years ago. But last week | guess | did hit a milestone. The big "FIVE" "O" they call it, but it wasn't near as traumatic as | was led to believe. In fact, it would have just been another day if friends, staff and family hadn't gone out of their way to let everyone in the township know. There are some things in our past we would just as soon keep private, but after seeing the picture of me propped up against a tree with a liquor bottle in my hand printed in the paper last week, | felt | owed an explanation. The picture was taken about 15 years ago while on a fishing trip near Lake Temagami. We had been flown into a small lake and after the plane left, the rain came. It was cold and damp and there was no shelter, so we put on our rain gear and sat around sipping on Southern Comfort to keep us warm while waiting for the plane to come back to pick us up. End of story! Aside from the surprise of the greeting ad in the Star, and a huge banner with 3 foot letters across the front of the building and a variety of other greet- ings and gifts from friends, the most memorable thing that happened on my birthday was an unex- pected visit from an old friend. Donna, a girl who lived down the street from me when | was growing up in Uxbridge, was driving by last week when she noticed the huge sign hanging on the front of the Star Building. We hadn't seen each other in more than 15 years, since she now lives in Alberta, but when she saw the sign hanging at the Star office, she put two and two together and stopped in to see if it was me. You can't imagine my surprise when she greeted me in the front office like we'd never parted. With Donna and her sister, was her mother Evelyn Morrison, who ran a restaurant in Uxbridge called Evelyn's Grill for years. What a terrific surprise it was to see both of these wonderful ladies from my past. IN CLOSING Last Sunday, hundreds of chiropractors, and local residents took part in a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the profession of chiropractic. Visitors from as far away as New York state took part in the celebration, and by all accounts, those attending were very impressed with the town of Port Perry, as well as members of council and others vol- unteers who organized the special event. Congratulations to all who took part in making the celebration of D.D. Palmer such a success.