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"A Family Tradition for 133 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, January 12, 1999 - 7 The Pout Povey Stax Question of the Week... Do you agree with court-ordered media bans? id o Gary Erhardt I agree with it under the right circumstances, but it has to be on a case by Bob Geddes I totally disagree. The fifth estate is a very important part of our Jody Hockley I don't agree with bans of any type. I think the press is a watchdog, and has to Ian Griffen I would have to agree with bans where the protection of the innocent and of Mike Joudrey I think that any evidence that would not affect the outcome of a jury tral il Do you have a suggestion that case basis. democracy. The press is do its job. should be released. children is mM stake, of you think would make a good one of the most important where the outcome of the | question of the week? watchdogs we have trial might be affected. | || Coll us ar 905-985-7385, Trustee needn't have caused a scene To the Editor: I have read with interest your coverage of Mrs. Drew's angst over Commencement Exercises at Port Perry High School. (Jan. 5 and Jan. 8 editions of your paper). I am amazed that this incident warranted front page coverage for two consecutive editions, in the relative absence of any other coverage of the event. As a parent, may I offer kudos to the admin- istration and staff (academic, secretarial and custodial) of Port Perry High School, for setting aside their differences to provide both an after- noon academic recognition assembly, and evening commencement exercises, for the stu- dents and parents of the school. I appreciate their efforts, especially in light of the fact that this spirit of cooperation to organize these events did not develop in all schools in the Durham District School Board. May I also point out that in some schools, representatives of the Durham District School Board - from superintendent level up - deliber- ately chose not to attend these events: they recognized the delicate situation which exists between teaching staffs and their employers. As your paper pointed out, Mrs. Drew's efforts to support the much needed expansion of facilities at Port Perry High School should be appreciated and applauded by the commu- nity. However, let us not ignore the fact that Mrs. Drew is also the board member of their collective bargaining team. She may have been spared a lot of grief had she followed the actions of some of her colleagues, or had even chosen | to attend, but sit in the audience. I understand it was her unexpected insistence on being part of the platform party which caused the problem. Finally - and by far the most important rea- son for this letter - would it be too much to ask that your paper set aside its teacher-bashing front page articles for one edition, to give some much deserved public recognition to the incred- ible academic achievements of the 1998 gradu- ating class from Port Perry High School? To date, after 13 years of school, they have been awarded two small photographs on Page 7 of your last edition. Of the hundreds who gradu- ated, you have mentioned only two names. Don't they deserve equal coverage? Muriel Berry, Seagrave Remember When? Another snow pic- ture this week, cour- tesy of Nelson Reader of Scugog Island. The picture taken in early 1941 shows a plow making its way up the hill at the east end of the causeway leading to Scugog Island. . Note the plow is making a one-lane ath through snow- anks that are almost as high as the truck. While we've experi- ence a lot of snow this past week around southern Ontario, when comparing it to some of the accumu- lations of a few decades ago, it doesn't seem so bad. Next week we'll show you another one from March 1940. § 'Editor's > by Jeff Mitchell A TALL TALE ABOUT LONG JOHNS As warm, comforting and ultimately brilliant as it is, long underwear shouldn't be worn to the office. - Sure, it's great for knocking around at home, especially when you're out chopping wood and the windis blowing off the lake like some screaming banshee straight from Antarctica. It's swell when you're clearing off a patch on the pond for a game of shinny, and it's Jim Dandy under a pair of overalls while you're shoveling out the latest load dumped by Old Man Winter (with an assist from the township roads crew -- kick save and a beauty!) in the driveway. It's even fine for lounging in later by the fire -- discreetly, of course; never in front of someone with whom you're seeking either intimacy or employment -- with your wool socks on. But at the office, especially if you work among women, who insist they're freezing if the thermostat hasn't topped out at 95 and the furnace is cranking like there's no tomorrow, thermal underwear can be not only uncom- fortable and overly warm, but downright dangerous. ...I"'ll bet you half those apocryphal tales of sponta- neous combustion can be attributed to the inappropriate donning of long johns. The body overheats and simply keeps on building up a thermal undercurrent -- which is trapped faithfully and recirculated by your handy dandy Stanfields -- until there's too much, and poof! Overload, with flames shooting everywhere, leaving nothing but a small patch of resin, a scattering of pocket change, some charred carpet, and a pair of shoes. They ought, really, to come with a warning, like the one from those folks who remind you sternly that a plastic bag IS NOT A TOY. But -- and here's the Canadiana reference for which you've been waiting -- it's knowing how to properly install and use such items as long underwear that makes us who we are. Like chainsaws, booster cables, toques and Canadian Tire money, long johns are a part of our culture, and, interestingly, one of the ongoing gauges of our progress through the inevitable stages of life. "How's it goin, Ed?" "First day for the long underwear since April!" "Well, I'll be!" | So let the record show that if it's cold enough in the morning as you shovel the driveway that you decide to keep your long underwear on, you may subsequently spend a disconcerting day at work. Next week: Influenza and You. Notepad