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"Scugog"s Community Newspaper of Choice" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, April 11, 2000 - 7 Question of the Week... Do you agree with Durham Police officials Mike Costescu John Gunther Marie McCrudden who say there has | agree that this is Even though it been a 29% decrease true and | hope that | trust the appears to be more, in break and entersin the rate of break and Police. if the police say there North Durham duri ng enters decreases is less, then there is 1999? even more. probably less. Brad Martyn Kyle Barriage The police should | think that the rate has know! dropped. There has been a noticeable change. Hospitals still i provides e excellent c care To the Editor In the past few months, | have wondered if our hospital was being engulfed by the larger Lakeridge Health Corporation. It worried me that cost-cutting rules and reg- ulations might be set that would impersonalize treatment at the expense of the patients. As a recent patient in Port Perry hospital | have experi- enced the opposite. The excellent, professional and com- passionate care | received could not be exceeded. The pleasantness and smiles of the staff are enhanced by the well maintained building and its landscaped surroundings, which collectively contribute to a speedy recovery. The new name may denote a sizeable corporation, but thanks to the caregivers, our "Community Hospital" is still a place where all are treated with respect, friendship and personal concern. May it always remain that way. Joy Hull, Port Perry Bands unite in harmony To the Editor: Bravo! It was an extraordinary event by a remarkable group of music teachers and students. The massive performance by the concert bands of Uxbridge S.S., Brock H.S., Port Perry H.S. and Cartwright H.S., at Uxbridge Secondary School on April 6 was a great gift of music to everyone who attended. Usually these bands are fierce competitors but last Thursday it was all about "being united in harmony." Please turn to page 8 ng 'our Money uty PM Herb Gray Sih the seal, or whatever it is you do, have to ud brmng 1,000 years of Icelandic on Canadian soil, and | thought it was just another day. "Yes. Snorri Thorfinnson was the first child of European descent born in what was to become Canada. Only it was Newfoundland, which didn't officially become a part of Canada until 1949, Newfoundlanders being a stubborn lot. And they didn't call it that then. And I'm pretty sure Snorri couldn't have been his real name, but rather was . likely a nickname, a term of endearment, based on his penchant for nodding off at inappropriate times. ) arrived. It informed now i " And they held the ceremony in Hull, Quebec, a jen Li Holly are open until the wee hours g there. | suspect that Hull, being a lot Newfoundland, was deemed more America. Mm-hmmm. Did too. And hockey, they fried cakes with inedible bits of brightly-coloured sugar sprinkled on them. Not many people know - that. Let's see... what else? Garage door openers, video games, the Granny Smith Apple, snowshoes, coconuts, space travel, television, the bicycle, and open heart surgery, to name just a few. So next time somebody mentions Iceland and somebody else says, "Phffft! Iceland? Who Cares?", you tell 'em about Snorri Thorfinnson. You tell 'em. rb Gray's office than the northern ; ny dole bi Know, for instance, that | Icelanders introduced the automobile to North invented that. And coffee. The Tim Horton's chain, in fact, was established by homesick Icelanders pining for strong black coffee in paper cups and : Random Jottings by ). Peter Hvidsten IF THERE'S A WILL... THERE'S A WAY At last week's meeting of council, the topic of a swimming pool came up for discussion, but it appears that discussion is about all that we can hope for this year. The fact that council is even talking about the possi- bility of building an outdoors swimming pool is some- what good news, but it's really only "lip service". I've been advocating in this column since early last summer, when the backhoe began tearing out the old Birdseye Centre pool, that the township should replace it with a new, larger pool at the same location. Unfortunately 10 months have gone by, the length of time that discussions, plans, estimates could have been completed, with hopes to have a pool tendered out and * constructed before the warm days of summer 2000 rolls around. But once again, there seems to be no urgency for anything in this township when it comes to facilities. Heck, this township has been talking about a second ice pad almost since the new arena opened in 1977. For close to two decades talks have been going on about the possibility of a second ice pad, and the resi- dents of the township are still waiting. More public surveys and more talks will only delay further any chance of an outdoor pool being built in the near future. It would be unfair to the residents of this community to deprive them of a public swimming facility for the next four of five years. In fairness, the mayor did suggest that the township does not need an Olympic sized swimming pool. That an "off the shelf" designed pool of top quality, with a good heating unit, could extend summer from June to September. | couldn't agree more. But we need to see some action.... collect informa- tion on sizes, specifications and prices... then get the project going. _ It's still not too late for this summer, if the procrasti- nation stops, and some action takes place. Undoubtedly there's the question of money. Where do we get the money for a facility such as this when the township's budget is so tight? There is a good chance that Scugog as we know it today, won't exist three years from now, so maybe some money could be taken out of the two or three mil- lion socked away in reserves. My understanding is that any money left in reserves, when the inevitable amalgamation of some townships occurs sometime in the next three years, will be pooled with the other municipalities. | may be wrong on this point, but if that were the case, it would be better to spend some of that money now, to construct and upgrade Scugog facilities. If there is a real desire to get a swimming pool built, it can be done. The township could even go so far as to debenture the cost over a few years, if they sincerely wanted the project to proceed. Suggestions that the municipality should be putting aside funds each year towards the cost of a new pool, for a time, "when and if", council might give the project a green light is frightening. This attitude will only delay a much needed facility for years. What's needed here is more than discussion... it requires leadership, determination and action. Things that appear to sadly be lacking!