The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

"Scugog"s Community Newspaper of Choice" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - 7 | | Question | of the Week... | How do you feel a aaa ut EE -- d,s: e It was a tremendous hon- our to have received the 2001 Port Perry Star Citizen of the Year Award and I thank you, and your staff, for the recognition and support of my volunteer work. | was hon- oured to be in the great com- pany of my fellow nominees, Marion Lee, John Lucyk, and the Port Perry High School OAC Business Administration Class. I was particularly proud to have the mayor of Scugog present the Citizen of the Year Award in your absence, during the Canada Day Celebrations in Palmer Park last Sunday. To have been presented the award by Mayor Moffatt during a com- munity celebration, among many of the people who make my volunteer time so meaningful, was very special to me. But I could not spend the number of volunteer hours that 1 do without the love, support and encouragement of my family. My husband and son, who were among sentation, are the backbone of my life and I thank them every day. And | could not begin to do the things I do without the support and help of the directors, committee members and general mem- bers of the Scugog Chamber of Commerce, the Tourist Association of Durham Region, the Scugog Township Economic Development Committee and the various other community organiza- tions to which | belong. And to the people of Scugog who continue to amaze me, the recognition and appreciation from my peers and fellow cit- izens since receiving this award has left me speechless at times. As a citizen of Scugog, a business partner, a wife and a mother, I am truly blessed to have the support of my family and friends and to live in a community that opens its heart and sole to all who work, live and play here. JoAnne Cerovich, Blackstock 'seasons, the arrival at certain times of the year of various scams has become so predictable as to y be barely noticeable. One that comes to mind most immediatly is the urgent communication from some fellow with a long, exotic-sounding name; he claims to be a high- ranking government official in Nigeria, who has stashed away some ridiculously huge sum of cash - like, $70 million or something like that - to keep it out of the hands of other corrupt government officials. His letter implores the recipient to help get the funds out of Nigeria by allowing the transfer of this : money into a Canadian bank account; he'll be around later to pick up the dough, the Nigerian official promises. In the meantime, you will hold onto this $70 million. And when the time comes to forfeit it to its rightful owners, you'll be rewarded with oh, eight or ten million dollars, because they really, really appreciate your help with this. So right now you're thinking, "Anybody who reads a letter like this and thinks it's on the level must have rocks in his head. Nobody would buy this." ...right? So | thought until last week, when | heard that police in Toronto had busted several people in con- nection with the Nigerian government letter scam. They had duped several victims, including one genius in the U.S. who was taken for millions of dol- Harvey VanDerLigt Stu Bennett Kim Conway Marlene Hodgson Bill Minors about the Hells | have no problems They have not | am not bothered I'd rather they didn't. They generally <r with those guys. bothered us before, by it. | really do not | have known bikers ~~ behave themselves Angels meeting In They are not like and if that stays the know all that much and one-on-one and do not bother Scugco in? everyone thinks same way then, about them. they are all right. anybody. gog Township they are. well, they have to But in a group, no. go somewhere. LETTERS p S , Thanks for the honour THE SCAN SEABON bu Jeff Mitchell To the Editor: thie crowd watching the pre- Not unlike the changing of the lars, with this ridiculous-sounding proposal. See, as with any scam like this, the perpetrators promise incredible riches, then ask for a contribution from-the pigeon to help, you know, grease the skids alittle. The poor rube gets caught up in the quagmire, forking over more and more cash, veritably slavering as the perceived pay-off 'approaches. It neverdoes, of course. And then there's one very regretful person, who's often too embarrassed to reveal his folly to the cops. He gets fleeced; the scammers take the money and run. What must go through someone's mind when they decide to take the plunge on what is so obviously too good to be true? Are they blinded by the notion of instant riches? Do we take: leave of our sense so easily? Guess so, There are things - money, power, beauty - that can cause otherwise good people to become wicked, self-centred morons. And we tend to believe that, 'despite the conventional wisdom, - happinoss can be bought. Five dollars worth of loftery tickets can instill in the heart more hope and anticipation than a lifetime of dreaming and working. The moral of the story, | reckon, is that you may as well forget about getting rich quick; it ain't gonna happen. Likewise, that which seems so desirable during a moment in time may turn out to be not be so perfect, when the sacrifice that must be made to attain it is considered. Next week's target: Publisher's Clearing House - "You may already be a winner!" The Council Table By Chris Hall look from past years. A WORK IN PROGRESS Wasn't that a party? Port Perry's midsummer festival has come and gone once again, and this time it looks like organizers got it right on the money. This year the Scugog Chamber of Commerce, which has run the show for the event's 30-plus year history, and the Business Improvement Area teamed up to put on a great show, which had a considerably different . Only two years ago, Festival Days was a three-day event, beginning on Thursday evening and running through Sunday afternoon in Port Perry's downtown core. There was plenty of entertainment and lots to see and do, but it got rather old and boring after the first day. Looking for a change, the Chamber moved the show to the Port Perry Fairgrounds last year... which seemed like a good idea at the time. But it didn't work out as planned, and that approach was abandoned. That brings us now to last weekend, when the Chamber and the BIA seemed to have worked out most of the kinks associated with running a large-scale festival. First of all - and most importantly - they shortened the event to what basically worked out to be a day- long festival. This year, they crammed pretty much everything into Saturday, which resulted in the usual traffic snarls in Port Perry, but plenty of fun for those who chose to attend. Games and entertainment thrilled visitors young and old, and while final financial numbers weren't yet available yesterday morning, Chamber president JoAnne Cerovich called the 2001 event "an unqualified success." She positively beamed about the happy reactions she witnessed from all those who attended, and seemed ready to commit to the same format again next year, which would finally create some stability for the mid-summer festival. "It's too early to tell right now, but I think we'll keep most of these elements for next year. There's some changes which need to be made and improvements to some things, but I'm thrilled that the two organizations got together on this and, in my personal opinion, it should stay the same," said Mrs. Cerovich. "I think the formula of having it downtown is abso- lutely the way to go. We tried it for one year at the fair- grounds, but | think showcasing the downtown is the way to go." So it would appear. Showcasing Port Perry's downtown core seems to be the right route to go; having the festival right in the middle of the town square -- so to speak -- has worked in the past, and it seems to have worked again. Most of the local merchants love it, the restaurants and pubs are packed and it effectively puts all the action right in the centre of town. Street Fest 2001 was a good idea and should be repeated in the years to come. With a little tinkering here and there, the Scugog Chamber of Commerce and the BIA could find a way to breathe new life into an event which has grown a little stagnant over the years. Maybe the matter of a midway should be revisited for the 2002 festival or perhaps the organizers should relax their reluctance to let outside merchants partici- pate in the event, but all in all Street Fest 2001 was a refreshing change, and organizers from both the Chamber of Commerce and BIA should be applauded for their hard work.