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"Scugog"s Community Newspaper of Choice" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, August 29, 2000 - / Question of the Week... In terms of enforce- Heather Callan ment, which areas of In the downtown the township do you core. It's unbeliev- ' - able how many peo- think need to be ris sreed up and patrolled more? down Mary St. and Water St. David McBain Nothing in particular. | see something now and again, but it's not a regular thing. Paula Copithorn The intersection at (Hwy.) 7A and Old Simcoe Rd. It's bad because you can't see over the hill. A Patricia Constable The intersection at Island Rd. and 7A, no question. With all the traffic from the casino it's terrible. Deborah Delisla Highway 7A and Ella St. near the Water St. inter- section. It gets bad late in the day. The police should watch that area. Clothing and Toy Sale Operation Scugog Food Bank will hold their ninth Annual Children's Fall/Winter Clothing and Toy Sale on Saturday, Sept. 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Scugog Centre Community Hall (Arena), 1655 Reach Street, Port Peiry. This sale offers good quality used children's clothing, sizes infant to 16, and maternity clothing. Also shoes, toys, games, books, boots, skates and baby furniture are available. For more information call Kate at (905) 986-5407 or Tracy at (905) 985-9083. Golfing with Dave Devall CTV's Channel 9 weatherman, Dave Devall looks for- ward to the Humane Society's Golf Tournament Fundraiser which will be held on Sept. 9 at the Wolf Run Golf Club. For entries or donation information you can call the Animal Centre at 878-4618 or Myrna Conlon at 953-9322. Kelsey's Bar and Grill are in full support and will serve a complimentary lunch to all participants. 50th Anniversary Reunion This is an invitation to all students, staff and support staff who attended E.W. Farr Memorial School, S.S. #9, Pelham between September 1950 to the present to attend a 50th anniversary celebration. This event will be held at the school on Canboro Road in Fenwick, Ontario on Friday, Sept. 29 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. For more information please call Joan Bishop (905) 892-4302 or email: paulam@iaw.on ca It was several months ago, but the horror lingers on. Despite what my instincts told me - despite a screaming nervous system, a dread | call The Fear in the pit of my gut, and the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up, as if teased by electricity - | con- sented to watch The Bridges of Madison County on a Saturday night, because that's what my wife wanted to do. "It's got Clint Eastwood in it, and Meryl Streep's a damn fine actress," | reasoned. "It can't be all that bad." Well, ladies and gentlemen (and particularly gentle- men), | am here to tell you that it wasn't all that bad. It was worse than that. For three hours, these two people simpered and smooched. And smooched and simpered. And sim- pered and smooched. There was no shooting. No cussing. No chase scenes. No depictions of human greed and depravity. In short, nothing to warrant watching it at all. Now, don't get me wrong. Despite what a certain segment of the population (which, for the sake of direct communication, is women, in cage you haven't caught the drift) may think, not all men are neanderthals who are bored stiff unless there's something blowin' up, or someone scoring a goal, or babes, or whatnot, on the screen. Some of us are real cinema fans, who are able to understand and appreciate the subtleties of fine film making, such as character development, Page Seven A BRUSH WITH MELODRAMA by Jeff Mitchell cinematography, gunfire, direction, babes, tension, scripting, casting, and things that blow up. We're not all idiotic, slobbering Steven Segal fans, who like nothing more than seeing the villain get kicked in the jaw, then stumble backwards into an open elevator shaft, and go "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" all the way to a grisly and well-deserved death. Here's the thing: Happy endings just really stink. Much better are the films in which everything ends badly for everyone. Like Reservoir Dogs, for instance. Classic film. But just try and get the wife to watch it. A great film this summer was The Perfect Storm. Great cast, great camera work... and a cold, watery grave for all the characters you really cared about. Best movie ever? The Godfather, without a doubt. Any film with lines like, "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli", and "Luka Brazzi sleeps with the fishes"... well. Followed by Goodfellas, The Grapes of Wrath, A Night At the Opera, This Is Spinal Tap, My Darling Clementine (Hank Fonda again!), Tunes Of Glory, and just about anything with Marlene Dietrich in it. That's an exceedingly short list, and | know for a fact that, after this column has gone and the presses are humming that beautiful tune they make, there will come to my mind the film I've forgotten. But no matter. As lorfg as a lesson was learned from the Bridges of Madison Etc. thing, | figure it was worthwhile. And in future, | will exercise more discretion when it comes to renting and watching films from the video store. > Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten { _ _ SUMMER WINDS DOWN . AND THE KIDS ARE BACK As | write this column, Nancy and | are preparing to head north , to bring our brood of children back from the wilds of Haliburton. Matt's been gone for a whole month, and the twins, Jamie and Katie, have spent the past week with the Girl Guides at Camp Adelaide. It's hard to believe the summer is almost over. And harder to believe our 15-year-old son has spent the past four weeks in the bush camping, canoeing and swimming with kids from all over the world. In his cabin alone there was one boy from Italy, one from France, and another from Germany. But for Nancy and | the most noticeable difference while he was gone, was the number of times the phone rang. In most cases, it just didn't ring! Anyone who's the parent of a teenager knows how the kids take over the airwaves when they're home. Heck, we don't even get up off our butts when the phone rings after supper anymore,-because we know it won't be for us. The odd time we are summoned to the phone, it's usually someone wanting to clean our carpets, pave our driveway, or sell us insurance. It wasn't that long ago, owning a telephone was a privilege, and it was only used for calls of importance. We would talk only as long as necessary, then hang up in case someone else wanted to use it. Today, the phone has become just another source of entertainment for the kids. They don't think any less of talking on the phone for a couple of hours, than they would of watching the TV, sitting at a computer or listen- ing to music on their stereo or CD player for the same length of time. My, how times have changed? OPINIONS A GENERATION APART Last week | editorialized in this spot the new dress codes which will come into effect at Durham high schools when classes return next week. My opinion was, and still is, that the codes are a great idea, and they should be a benefit to both students and teachers. Julia Gajewski, a recent graduate, thinks otherwise, and while | respect her opinion, | just don't buy her argu- ments. In a letter to the editor of this paper last week, she writes that the codes will "simply strip away any feel- ings of individuality and expression from ones trying so desperately to find themselves." Maybe I'm just getting too old, but if not allowing kids to wear short tops and skirts, or ball caps and sunglass- es in the classroom, strips kids of their individuality, then we as a society are in trouble. In my opinion, wearing tank tops and short skirts in school are a serious distraction in the classroom, espe- cially for teenage boys, and they do not help to create a good learning atmosphere. And | most certainly find it hard to understand that by not allowing hats to be worn in the school, it strips most guys of their dignity. She herself admits, in her letter, the statement sounds ridiculous, and | wholeheartedly agree. There's always been a difference of opinion between the generations, and as much as | like and respect the freedoms our kids get today, a line has to be drawn in the sand saying "this is as far as you can go." That's the job of both parents and educators.