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"A Family Tradition for 132 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, August 17, 1999 - 7 The Potf Povey Stax Question of the Week... What do you think about the increasing presence of slot machines and other gambling devices in Ontario? Mike A Do you have a suggestion that you think would make a good question of the week? Call us at 905-985-7383. i [t doesn't really bother me. It probably will cre- ate some jobs and as long as it helps the town | don't mind.I don't know if it's the right thing, but Island. if they go in, they go in. iil EE a d Carolyn Haugen [U's good if it's for charita- ble reasons; if that's the case I don't mind. I'm not a gambler.... I've never been to the one on the Shoul Manetta [ don't care, it doesn't really matter to me. People can spend their money however they Gail Manetta I don't think they should allow them, but I don't believe in gambling. Some people have no self-control and will throw away their money. Sue Minnagh [ don't care. I live on the Island and I've seen no difference in traffic or how people drive. I've never even been to the casino there. LETTERS Good old days, not always so good To the Editor: Your issue of July 27 carried a summer 1940 photo of the Birdseye Pool. At the edge of the pool is a large sign with the shameful message "Gentiles Only." Ironically, this was several months after Canada had gone to war against Germany, whose Nazis had made anti-semitism into a depraved science. Did the town routinely deny Jewish citizens entry to public facilities? Would Flight Lieutenant "Buzz" Beurling, DSO DFC DFM, have been denied entry? The "good old days" were not always good. Sometimes they were downright evil. Patrick Melligan, RCAF Retired, Scugog Island Animal cruelty shouldn't be tolerated To the Editor: It is time to add more bite to the legislation on animal cruelty if Ontario is any example. Obviously, the bark in the present legislation is not enough. Within the past six months, too many cases of animal cruelty have risen their ugly heads. Bracebridge, Shelburne, Waterloo, Bewdley, Toronto: no Ontario place is exempt. Irish Setter, Rottweiler, cat or dog, young or old: no animal is exempt. Recently a 46-year-old man has been charged with cruelty after dragging a one-year-old, 60 pound Rottweiler behind his pickup at some 70 km. per hour. If he actually did stop, put Nikita back on her feet and continue his torture- drive, as witnesses claim, then he should be charged with two counts of animal cruelty. He should have to pay for Nikita's estimated $7,000 recovery costs. He should also be charged with wreckless driving, as should a 22-year-old Elmira woman, who allegedly tossed two three- week-old kittens from her car while travelling at 80 km. per hour on a highway just north of Turn to page 8 The Port Perry United Church Ladies Bible Class - circ Back left, 7,7, 7, Miss Gamble, Miss Walker, 7, 7, Miss Rosel ~ R.D. Woon, Mrs. Schell 2, 2, 7, Mrs. A.W. Allin, 2, Mrs. L. lcDermott, Kattie Widden, ?, ?. Little boy in second row Fi Editor's Notepad by Jeff Mitchell DRIVING HEADLONG INTO SUMMER Do you ever have an eerie feeling, like you're the last person on the planet, creep over you? Sort of like Charlton Heston in Omega Man, blasting around in all the abandoned Mustangs, Corvettes and other cool cars he comes across, the last member of his species left on a globe that lies deserted and silent? No? Try finding a bureaucrat at Queen's Park in August. Or an official with the school board. Or a regional department head. Funny, but it seems when summer comes all these people who dwell for 10 months of the year behind a desk suddenly have pressing business outside, preferably in the vicinity of a golf course. Or the director is not taking any calls because he's involved in a meeting. In Muskoka. With a fishing rod in his hand. Conversely, federal politicians are consumed by pressing business such as trade missions and human rights talks with tropical countries each and every February. As of Groundhog Day they're jetting all over hell's half acre, chatting up Castro over cigars, talking turkey over mai-tais in the Phillipines, or going on fact-finding tours in Australia, Thailand or Brazil. These are the folks for whom the calendar can change. They make the rules. Never confirm, never explain. Just keep looking straight ahead and get on that plane. And tell that idiot to be careful with my golf clubs. The rest of us have to be content with grabbing a week when the schedule allows, jamming the car as full of provisions as we possibly can, then trundling off to a cottage, owned, rented or borrowed, a campground (Bugs and unfortunately positioned rocks included with your stay!), or, if we're fortunate, kid-free for a couple of days and ambitious, a road trip. The latter is my favourite. Climbing into the automobile with a travelling companion, enough music to fill the hours and the wonderful, optimistic rush of freedom, however temporary, is a blast. A plan is optional. So are maps. Timetables are not allowed. Having a destination is cool -- one of my favourite road trips in recent years was heading to Cleveland to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- Highly recommended! (wwwx) -- but as we all know, the destination is only a part of it. It's the getting there that counts. Sometimes you just hit the road and see what happens. You can be on your way to Kingston and wind up, inexplicably, in Niagara Falls, or have no plan whatsoever, and then find yourself enjoying a double-header at Tiger Stadium. Oh, for a steering wheel and a tank full of premium gasoline, and a limitless road ahead. And summer days to drive headlong into. iia, A a a