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"A Family Tradition for 131 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, March 11, 1997-7 I ETTERS Hunting bears is hardly a sport To the Editor: Re: Feb. 28 letter by Debbie Northey: The days of the noble hunter are almost gone. Happy 18 he who loves the forest and sits in a tree among the ecstasy of chorusing blackflies, the chirping chickadee company on his hat brim and the compania- ble squirrel at home on his boot as you describe. But the gun across his lap makes him (or her) out of touch with the reali- ty of our fast diminishing wild- life and its habitat. The nature lover and the ego-maniacal "hunter" no longer is an accept- able duality as it possibly once was before our natural balance was upset by human arrogance Health cuts couldn't be To the Editor: The $400 million said to be saved by the biggest restructur- ing of hospitals in Ontario is the same amount of money spent yearly on French services in On- tario introduced by the spend- thrift Peterson Liberals. At the introduction Premier Peterson gave the French Asso- ciation of Ontario $1 million to stage a party. When questioned about it his reply "It's only pea- nuts." None of the cuts would have been necessary in health care had Peterson and Rae not ca- Time for conservatives To the Editor: As president of the Reform Party Durham Riding, I wish to congratulate the newly "cho- sen" Progressive Conservative candidate, Sam Cureatz, on his stunning victory. Mr. Cureatz's victory will give conservative voters a clear choice between a return to the policies and practices of the past, as symbolized by Bill Da- vis and Brian Mulroney, or the bringing of the Common Sense Revolution to Ottawa, by sup- porting the mother of all Com- mon Sense Parties -- the Re- and ignorance. Let's get real: Bear hunters are not noble. No hunters are. Hunting is an ego trip for men and women who have not ad- Justed from the frontier mind- set. Exception: when you may be starving or actually live your life in the bush for lack of an al- ternative. In Canada alone over 20,000 bears are killed every year le- gally; 90 per cent are killed by laying out bait to make it easy for people with rifles to shoot them. "Hunting?" I think not! Most bears killed in Ontario are killed by non-residents in the capable hands of outfitters at a price of $1,000 U.S. per kill- tered to a French minority which, by the governments own survey, was only about 2 per cent of the population. Premier Harris had no choice as Ottawa cut back transfer ayments to Ontario by about $3 million. Harris has actually increased hospital spending by $200 million over last year. It has hurt mainly the nurs- ing staff as the doctors got about a 7 per cent raise recently and their incomes increased to a maximum of $300,000 for gen- eral practitioners and $380,000 for specialists. form Party of Canada. It was the working together of conservatives -- Progressive Conservatives and Reformers -- which brought about the Mike Harris Common Sense Revolu- tion. But Ontario's Common Sense Revolution can never be totally successful as long as there is a philosophically op- posed govern-ment in Ottawa, which is undoing the policies of the Mike Harris government here in Ontario. When Mike lowered taxes to create jobs, Ot- tawa raised taxes and charges, killing the job opportunities er. And we "hunt" bears both in spring and fall. We all know what happens when anything becomes a business and money is the only motive. And what about the poachers and other illegals who kill bears for a few body parts that bring high profits? INTERPOL esti- mates bear "products" are val- ued at $6 billion annually, sec- 'ond only to the illegal drug trade. How many bears does that represent? By the way: Slaughter houses have nothing to do with wildlife. That's just apples among the oranges. Think again. Be 2 Owen Neill, Port Perry avoided I know how it has hurt the hospital staff from personal knowledge. My daughter was manager of television program- ming for Sick Children's Hospi- tal for some 13 years, with no aises in the past five years un- der "Rae Days." She was termi- nated along with dozens at Sick Kids. The litany of waste by past governments and the federal government is the reason Har- ris had to cut back. Dean J. Kelly, Port Perry fo unite Mike was trying to create. To create jobs, taxes will have to be reduced. If reform-minded conserva- tives don't vote together for the same political party, then their split vote will help re-elect the Liberals. True conservatives owe it to themselves to vote based on principles -- not tradi- tion. If they do that, we will all win! Evert Vroegh, Hampton SBIR WOE by ser Mitchel --- = COUNTRY CORRESPONDENT FAREWELL TO MABEL. It's a sad day as | write this, indeed. Word came this morning that Mabel Cawker, long-time Star correspondent and well-known Nestleton resident, passed away early today. | worked with Mabel for just a couple of years, as declining health forced her from home and into hospital, then the Villa in Port Perry recently, and writing the column was no longer a possibility. But | will remember her. One memory is of how, when | ran into her here or there, she would invariably grab me by the arm and pull me down to the level at which she was sitting, so she could look me in the eye (She was some strong for a little old lady!). And of how she never failed to phone and give me hell if | cut any of her poetry or social notes -- or anything -- out of the Nestleton News. Although her energies were spent on numerous pursuits, it's her work as a country correspondent | will recall. Such writers seem to be fewer as community papers go high-tech, or find editorial space too sparse, and that's a shame. Our condolences to the family and many friends she leaves behind. Farewell, Mabel. God Bless. GROWING PAINS?: In the time it's taken to write this piece -- and it's more than you'd think, what with getting up for coffee, answering inquiries on the phone ("Say, do you know what time the Oshawa Centre closes?"or "I'm calling about this story that ran a couple of weeks ago... about this guy... | can't remember his name... he wore a hat... maybe it was a couple of months ago..." and sometimes, "What in God's name do you think you're doing, printing stuff like that?") and generally enduring the painful process that is writing a regular column -- there has been snow, wind, sunshine, a smattering of rain, a little more snow, and some ice pellets. The seasons are a- changin', yes indeed, and folks are even turning up with tales of daffodills pushing their little green heads up through the tundra. Can it be long before the robin sightings start pouring in? WAR OF WORDS: The final tally in the Star's Short Story Contest is impressive. After putting out a call for your pieces of fiction we sat back and watched as the deluge began. In the end, we received no fewer than 90 -- count 'em! -- submissions. Wow! Never let it be said that Star readers are not -- sniff -- a literary lot... eh? Truly: Thanks again for you participation, and keep watching for word on the winners. Witness says she saw suspect in Port on Oct. 19 By John B. McClelland Port Perry Star A Crown witness has testi- fied she saw Angus McArthur in Port Perry the day before the Bank of Montreal was robbed of $50,000 and five peo- e wounded by gunfire. pl Angus, 31, oh with his 44- year-old brother Mitchiel, face 34 charges in connection with the robbery and shootings Oct. 20, 1994 at the Port Perry Plaza. They are on trial in Ontario Court, General Division at the Whitby courthouse in front of Justice Harry LaForme and a jury of six men and six women. Giving testimony Mopiay afternoon, Carol Ann Ballag told court she was working the day before the robbery at the Kentucky Fried Chicken restau- rant, which is about 100 yards wes' of the bank branch and has windows that provide a clear view of the bank. Ms. Ballagh identified Angus in court as a man who came into the restaurant that day to purchase food. She is the only witness so far in the lengthy trial to iden- tify Angus as being in Port Perry on or close to the day of robbery. Three witnesses have already testified they saw his brother Mitchiel in Port Perry the evening of the robbery and shootings. Ms. Ballagh said three days after the robbery she saw a photo of Angus published in a ronto newspaper and recalled it was the same man she had served Oct. 19 in the restaurant. Under questioning from Crown counsel Michael Hill, Ms. Ballagh said she distinctly remembered the man she served, in the restaurant because he had "really nice blue eyes." The witness said she enjoys painting portraits and often notices distinctive facial char- acteristics of people she meets. And she often depicts facial characteristics in her painting. In this case, she said, it was the blue eyes that caught her attention. On Oct. 24, she identified Angus from a police photo line- up, and in court Monday she pointed to him when asked by Hill if the man she saw in the restaurant was in the court room. In vigorous cross examina- tion, Angus' lawyer Peter Zaduk noted that at a preliminary hearing in Oct. 1995, the wit- ness said the blue-eyed man she saw in the restaurant was wearing a t-shirt that day and that he had a pot or beer belly. She later said under a re- examination question from the Crown counsel that if a person was wearing a baggy shirt, it gould appear that he has a beer elly. Mr. Zaduk queried the wit- ness at length about the black and white news photo of Angus she saw a couple of days after the robbery, and that'in that photo the eyes would appear to e light colored blue or grey. e news photo looks like he could have blue eyes, she replied. "I suggest that what you remember is the photo you saw in the paper when you identified him in the photo line-up," said Zaduk. "You would be wrong," she replied.