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Mh tie chs denuiing Aaa atest alia ae cod wa Laan. Sali LL J "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, February 27, 2001 - 7 EE -- Question of the Week... Do you think the EN Freida Cochrane John Drake ~ Judy MacSween Julie McClure Tony LaRocca township should | hate to see things Sell them. And fix up No, | don't think they It seems a shame, Yes, if they're not Il off icinal sold that have been some of the roads in should sell them. - because they're his- being used a lot, and S€ll Ol municCipa in the community for town. Keep Port Perry the torical to Port Perry; they need repairs. a long time. | it i : halls to cut costs? ong time. | hate way it is today, not they're a landmark. | change. modem. LETTERS Page Seven Setting a dangerous precedent To the Editor: What a difference a week makes. Alliance Homes pre- sented Scugog Council with arequest to construct larger homes on the property they are developing. This change would diminish the space between the homes which are crowded on 40 foot lots. We would assume that this proposal would be dis- missed as the plans for the property must have received the approval of the council and all those who are involved in the process. Alas, this paper report- ed that a recommendation was made to the council by Scugog staff to allow this variance. This recommen- dation was not favourable to all of the council mem- bers but ended up getting the approval of many of our elected officials. What now? A wide open door for any developer to make changes to their plans with the knowledge that the council will allow such requests. We may ask, why was this development approved in the first place if parking at the curbs was a problem? N.R. Caswell, Port Perry To the Editor: Planning for RiverFestival 2001 is underway. All groups are invited to submit suggestions for this annual festival which attracts upwards of 60,000 people of all ages during its three day run. Letters Festival proposals are sought can be directed to the RiverFestival Committee, attention: Donna Barry, Special Events Office, 180 Kent Street We-*, Lindsay, ON, K9V 2Y6; Fax: 705- 324-9268 or 705-324-2051. Stephen Morgan, Committee 2001 please, now that you're all acquainted with the new ten- "dollar bills, to make two state- "ments tHat appear to be glaringly obvious, but hin no one, to my knowledge at least, has yet publicly declared: ; Q No one seems to know the words to what's probably the most famous Canadian poem ever | written, and a Man, this is some buti-ugly currency. ~ Soon after the bills began to circulate, some one, EE Lor outa magnifying glass, I'm guessing, and read _ the rendition of 'In Flanders Fields', the famous World War | poem, that was written by John McCrae, a military doctor. This genius concluded that the first line of the poem, as reproduced on the bill - "In Flanders Fields the poppies blow" - was a glaring error, because, as everyone knows, it's grow, not blow, and the meatheads in Ottawa had got it wrong. Well, alarms across the country were set off, and the phones at community newspapers began ringing, and everyone was having a heyday - it was January, see, and the slavering press was slavering even more than usual for something to make noise about - until it was pointed out to us that the wording on the bill is right, and we were all wrong. 'Over at Metroland they went ahead with the story, which was that there was no story, except A CURRENCY AFFAIR Let me take this opportunity, ; by Jeff Mitchell that the words are correct, and everything is fine. The real story, of course, Is the sheer ugliness of the. newly. minted money. Never has such unsightly currency been issued in this country. A purple night- mare, with Sir John A's proboscis the most prominent and unsettling feature. One word comes to mind upon viewing the bill: Oy. E" Even more alarming i is the fact that this sawbuck is the precursor of more new money, and God only knows what it's gonna look like. One shudders. After seeing the ten, | wouldn't be the least bit - surprised to get a new fiver some day and find they've replaced Laurier with Adrienne Clarkson, and adorned the back with an image of seals frol- licking amongst the sewage in the harbour at St. John's. Maybe we can look forward to 20's graced by Brian Mulroney's mug, and an engraving of them pulling down the last of Saskatchewan's grain ele- vators on the back. . Remember the money in the 60s? How dignified and understated and respectable it was? How much it resembled money? Now we're saddled with stuff that looks like it was snipped from the colour funnies, and had num- bers pasted on it. | It's a sad state of affairs when Canadian Tire money is more attractive that the legal tender issued by the government. But that's the way it is. Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten . THE SPRING TEASE After three months of winter and more snow than we've experienced in years, spring teased us by drop- ping in for about 24 hours over this past weekend. * Temperatures peaked at about 13° Celsius - that con- verts into almost 55° Fahrenheit, for those of you who refuse to give in to Trudeau's metric gift to Canadians almost three decades ago. And as short lived as it was, getting outside without a heavy winter coat to bask in the bright rays of the warm sun was wonderful. We spent a few hours scraping ice off the driveway, for no reason other than it was so nice to get outside and enjoy the first taste of spring. This Wednesday (tomorrow) is the final day for ice fishermen to enjoy their winter sport in the shelter of a fish hut, as the deadline for removing huts is Feb. 28. But many weren't waiting until the last day, and we watched as a steady stream of cars, snowmobiles and ATVs made their way down the slushy lake towards town, with huts in tow on Sunday. Of course winter returned Sunday night, but that one day of mild temperatures and melting snow was a wel- come event, and it renewed hopes that Spring is not far away. BITS AND PIECES Q 1 WAS EXTREMELY saddened to learn John Foote, The Star's movie reviewer for the past six years, was injured in an automotive accident last week. His serious injuries will no doubt take some time to mend, and there's no doubt readers of the Weekend Star will miss reading his informative reviews in he. paper until he recovers. We at The Star would like to extend to John best wishes for a speedy recovery. Q THE DECISION to build a skateboard park for area youth at the arena recreation site is a good one, and council should get on with the project as quickly as pos- sible. Skateboard park supporters, and boarders have been raising money for the facility for more than two years, and despite many obstacles, have kept up their enthusi- asm for a park for area teenagers. Now that everyone has agreed to a location, the funds should be put in place and the park built as quickly as as possible. Hopefully the kids will have a facility which they can begin to use this spring and summer. Q IT SEEMS EVERYONE is looking for money from council this year, and township staff and politicians will no doubt have trouble meeting all the demands. Both the library and museum are looking for increased funding, and the hospital requires funds for new equip- ment. | There's little doubt that all the requests have merit, but with limited funds, and pressure to keep any tax increase to a minimum, council has its work cut out for them trying to appease all those with their hands out. My hope is/they will find some spare change to direct towards the museum. Staff members toil in musty, dark offices in the basement of the old school house, and many artifacts are in danger of being ruined due to inad- equate archiving facilities. Despite the need in so many other places, the muse- um is one place that needs help, for the safety of its staff and the preservation of our history. ad ii. a Sa Se sre ME ena ~ Sagi