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"A Family Tradition for 132 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, May 12, 1998 - 7 LETTERS Caring sitter forced to shut down To the Editor: Every working parent's worst fear is that his/her child will be exposed to neglectful or abusive childcare. It is difficult to hand a child over to someone else - someone who has more of your child's waking hours than you 0. My husband and I chose to have our daughter cared for in a home setting rather than a day- care institute. We chose not to have structured hour-by-hour care; we felt this structure would come soon enough with school. We are responsible parents - we would not leave our child with someone we did not trust implicitly. References were checked and we watched for changes in our child that would indicate the care she received was less than excellent. And though Mary holds no childcare degrees, she is someone who received her education as the mother of four boys. She is some- one who kissed boo-boos, wiped tears, hugged our daughter when she felt sick, taught her to draw, and helped toilet train - and did not mind too much if I was late (God bless you, Mary!). We found someone who took an active interest in the well being of our child - someone who acted like a parent to all children in her care. Our daughter had the benefit of a "parent" at home during the day even if it was neither my husband nor myself. Mary's homecare setting gave us the peace of mind to go to our jobs knowing that our child was receiving the care and love she deserved and that we wanted for her. Our daughter loves Mary and we trust Mary with our child's life. Kids should be a part of every neighborhood. There is no greater sound in the world than the sound of children's laughter, children at play. They are our future...and I do not think the "individual" suspected of calling Social Services had our "future" in mind when he/she dialed - nor when he/she verbally abused Mary in front of the children. "Shut those G....D....kids up!" tells us where his/her priorities are. They were playing! Oh, he/she was angry about the dog too. He/she probably doesn't like lawn mowers either. I wonder how he/she feels about the wind rustling through the trees? Yes, I understand the law of no more than five children under the age of 10 in an unlicensed daycare, and I understand the reasons - however, I do not nec- essarily agree with this "law." What I find so ironic about this is that no one cared about the abuse of Mary in front of the children. Mary complained to the authorities and was told nothing could be done. Yet despite her excellent, loving care of the children, Mary can no longer care for more than five in her home. I wonder if this "indi- vidual" is limited to parenting five children As far as I know, only China limits the number of children parents can have. With his/her obvious feelings towards children, I hope he/she chose to be childless in life. We are good parents who make the best decisions we can for our child. We are responsible, and yes, I knew the five child law was being broken. Do we live in an Orwellian society? Trust me. Big Brother does not always know best; history has proven that government and leadership can make drastic errors. Once upon a time (and not so long ago), it was illegal for women to vote. Perhaps the very limiting five child law . should receive some re-consider- ation. Thank you for everything Mary, we will all miss you. Sherri Foote Seagrave Test Hill suggestion misses mark To the Editor: In a recent Star "Letter of the Week," Blaine Sleep of Blackstock wrote a suggestion for the use of Test Hill. I don't think Mr. Sleep has any respect for the Durham Regional Police, Scugog council or private property. Mr. Sleep thinks that the police and Scugog council are taking "the easy way out," with a $2,000 fine to anyone caught trespass- ing at Test Hill. He must think that the police don't have anything better to do than go fine people for tres- passing. If the fine of $105 will not stop these so-called "four wheelers playing in the mud bogs," as Mr. Sleep states in his letter, then don't you think a $2,000 fine would stop most of the trespassers playing in the mud on private property? I don't know for sure, but I think it would. With this higher fine the police should have more time to spend on things like, oh, let's say, emergencies, rather than spending valuable time on peo- ple who don't respect private property, time and time again. The thing Mr. Sleep should ask himself is, what would he do if one day, he needed the police, for what ever reason, and the police were unavail- able, because they were at Test Hill trying to keep people from playing in the mud? I think Mr. Sleep would change his tune then. Name withheld by request What's on your mind? We're interested in your opinion on issues of local importance, and other stories in the news. You can fax us at 985-3708. Editor's Notepad by Jeff Mitchell 'S FLYING IN SCUGOG DIG THIS: My, my, but have you noticed the amount of construction going on in and around Port Perry these days? Up on Reach St., down on Simcoe (even at poor old West Shore Village), the dirt's just flyin'. This rash of industriousness comes, coincidentally, in the wake of a township council edict which warned developers that they had better get cracking on their subdivisions, or face losing the precious sewage alloca- tion that had been given them, in some cases, years ago, and hitherto remained unused. ...I'm reminded suddenly of the summers of my youth, spent toiling on dairy farms in Prince Edward County. | remember being amazed at the effectiveness of a cattle prod in coaxing reluctant Holsteins onto trailers. Hm. Another coincidence. At any rate, it's interesting to see the building beginning, and to attempt to picture what's in the future. With the subdivision going up south of town on Oshawa Road, you have to wonder what sort of commercial strip may embed itself there, now that development has run smack into the causeway on 7A. | Things do change quickly, don't they? A FUGITIVE FELINE? ...The recently revealed police shooting of a house cat in Toronto (Everybody now: Thank God for the Toronto Sun!) raises a number of questions which, rest assured, the aforementioned tabloid will no doubt continue to expose on its front page ("Shot cat was abused by puppy-dragging crack mom, says immigrant neighbor") in the days and weeks to come. ...Were the officers in danger? Was the cat armed? What set him off and sent him in a frenzy toward a gaggle of teenaged girls -- too much Dance Mix? Has anybody thought to check the thing for rabies, or can we safely conclude he was just jealous of Leonardo DiCaprio? (Suggested Sun headline: "Leo love triangle sends cuddly kitty into murderous rage"). HISTORY COMES TO LIFE: It's great to see the effort being made by Scugog Shores Historical Museum curator Dan Robert and his crew as they attempt to reacquaint locals with the museum. They've begun pre- liminary work on the Rodman cabin, a genuine piece of Scugog history, and are waiving admission fees for visi- tors this summer. Add to that a line-up of special festivals and attractions from Victoria Day to Halloween, and you've got lots of reasons to visit the site. Good for them. Why not show your support and take a drive to the Island to check it out? Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten ' stop. HOW ABOUT THE REALLY DANGEROUS CORNER? Received a few comments last week regarding the town- ships decision to make the inter- section of Queen and Water Streets a four-way- at this corner, and changing it to a four-way-stop seems like a superficial attem really isn't broken. Less than 10 years ago, when the council of the day made a move to make the corner a four- stop, the Scugog Chamber of Commerce dir voted unanimously to oppose a four- wrote a-letter to council statin Councillors in their wisdom, decided to scrap the idea and the issue died... until recently. pt to fix something that: way- ectors way-stop and g their objections. most impossible n, where traf- drivers can't see around the corner to view oncom- ing traffic without pulling out into the intersection themselves. If the bylaw has not already been passed, both the Chamber of Commerce and the Port Perry Downtown Business Association should be given an opportunity to to either support or oppose it. It's the business people in the downtown and along Water St. who this could effect most directly, and they should be given a chance to voice their opinions. SIGNS, SIGNS, EVERYWHERE THERE'S SIGNS Noticed over the past few months portable signs advertising businesses are beginning to show up on many streets in the downtown again. If any corner in town needs fixing, it's the corner of Queen and Perry St., where it's al to cross at times. Here the traffic is travelling at a far greater speed than at Water and Quee fic has to slow down to make a turn north or south Those commenting to me all agreed a three-way- stop would be far more practical at the corner, if council feels something must be done. | spoke with one of our local insurance agents, asking if they had many reports of accidents or claims caused from incidents at the corner, and was told to the best of his memory they had never pro- cessed a claim from that intersection. It appears too much is being made of the dangers onto Water Street. When it comes to near misses, I'd bet there have been a lot more accidents and close-calls at this mid-town intersection than there have ever been at Water and Queen, where traffic slows to a crawl before going around the corner. Another more dangerous problem than the Water/Queen intersection, as | see it, is cars parking too close to the intersection in front of the banks, so A few years back, council spent a great deal of time on a bylaw prohibiting signboards and mobile signs in the commercial areas, and enforced it rather vigorously at the time. On a visit to Peterborough recently, | was astounded at the number of large, unattractive fluo- rescent and mobile signs along the streets. How much nicer and uncluttered our streets look without them. " :