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6 - PORT PERRY "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2000 PUBLISHER................ J. Peter Hvidsten GENERAL MGR.......... Don MacLeod MANAGING EDITOR.. Jeff Mitchell OFFICE MANAGER... Gayle Stapley Hocna Oakwood - Manilla - Seagrave - Greenbank - Brookdin - Ashbum - Columbus - RR Oshawa E-MAIL: port.perry.star@sympatico.ca Caesarea - Blackstock - Raglan - Nestleton - Yelverton - Prince Albert 'ADVERTISING MGR...Deb McEachem Member Ontario Community REPORTER................. Chris Hall Newspaper Assoc. Freelance Writers- Heather McCras, John 8. McClelland Published every Friday by the Port Perry Star Company Limited, 188 Mary Street - Port Perry, Ontario - L9L 1B7 ns feos) eating Distributed free in the following communities: Port Perry - Uxbridge - Sunderiand - Little Britain - RR Lindsay Janetville lb Cormeen a Opin expressed by cokmnit, conrbutors nd leer wes aro not necessarily 1059 of The Port Perry Sta. ters must be signed and he telephone number (which wil not be published) inchuded. Requests hat a name be withheld wil be honoured oly here i a compeling rasan 1 do so Errors "4 be corrected if brought to the editor's attention. We reserve the right 10 edi of refuse publication of any material submitied. ADVERTISING POLICY: The publisher is not liable for sight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement The publisher is not able for other errors or omissions in Connection with any advertisement in any subsequent issue or the refund of any monies paid for the advertisement. Alldaims of error in publication must be made by Wednesday, noon, prior to the next week's publication, and, f not made, will not be considered. No claim will be allowed for more than one insertion. BUSINESS OFFICE: Judy Ashby, Kathy Dudley, Janet Rankin, Lesley West ADVERTISING: Ginni Todd, Cindy Jobin, Gail Morse, Heather Mack, Linda Clarke, Janet Archer, Malcolm Lennox PRODUCTION: Trudy Empringham, Pam Hickey, Daryle Wright, Arlene Chesel, Robert Taylor, Richard Drew, Scott Ashby OPINION A little civil disobedience In the media, they're calling it The Windsor Solution. At Queen's Park, it's a hot potato. Education Minister Janet Ecker calls its civil disobedience. We'd term it a desperate measure for desperate times. Whatever you call it, the Windsor public school board's pub- licly-stated resolve to run a deficit if necessary to avoid further cuts to its system is courageous. And it's the kind of action we could see more of, as trustees fed up with overly restrictive funding schedules rebel. | Essentially, the trustees in Windsor say they're willing to spend their board into a deficit - which is not allowed under provincial law - rather than continue to cut the programs they consider important. These include special education and French immersion. Windsor has been forced to cut $35 million from its budget because of dwindling provincial grants, and trustees have balked at slashing a further $12 million. They fear for the integrity of their system, as they should. And they're encouraging other boards to take a similar stand against the province. Wouldn't that be refreshing? Rather than bearing severe cuts and finding ways to incorporate them - in the process adversely affecting special needs and exceptional students, and others - it would be heartening to see boards say no to a situation which is clearly wrong. . Who knows? A little civil disobedience may go a long way... i ' Colt Wintels, eight months old, looks revved up to take dad Anthony's truck for a spin... and dad hasn't seen anything yet. If you have an interesting picture we could use for Photo of the Week, please drop it by The Star office, or give us a call at 985-7383. WOULD YOU MIND STICKING WHY? WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?) YOUR HEAD IN LOUISE" ROO DINNERS READY? TM AFRAID OF GETTING LETTERS [© 1 HAVE TO? MAULED OR SOMETHING To the Editor: Nothing irritates motorists more than the huge increases in gas prices. Looking for scapegoats as usual they blame Mike Harris, while few complain about the hated GST and taxes by the federal government. Petro Can and Sunoco are the first to raise prices and profits. From the very beginning Petrocan, paid for by our tax dol- lars, has rooked Canadians. We aid hundreds of millions more than it's worth. During a previous gas rip off | wrote to the Minister of Energy in Ottawa and received a reply from the minister stating they have "no jurisdiction over consumer prices of petroleum products." Yet they tax it to the hilt. "For every one cent increase in gas prices SO WHEN DID SHE GET THE KOALA7? OPEC the real villains in gas gouge the oil majors net a weekly windfall of $150 million. Soon as the "big boys" knock off the small independents, they can charge whatever they like. Some predict gas will hit near $1 a litre. Home heating oil has hit about 55 cents a litre while diesel has put truckers to the wall. The least Ottawa could do is drop the GST. The real villains are the Saudi oil sheiks aided and abetted by the majors. We fought a war in the Middle East to save their oil from the Iraqis, and what do they do to repay us? Gouge us even more. Competition by the independents would ease some of the pain if Ottawa would only act to protect them from the predators. Dean Kelly, Port Perry To the Editor I read in The Star (Feb.15) about the man who lost his I.D. papers, etc. Where are his brains? All his documents could end up on the streets, all over Ontario. Counterfeiters love this sort of thing. This man reports the problem to police on Feb. 7, a little late in my opin- Man who lost his ID acted irresponsibly ion. You don't have to be a rocket sci- entist to know you report your loss immediately, not a year later. He should be held responsible; his actions are inexcusable. This man needs to do a reality check, and soon. Frank Harris Nestelton -- TLE TEES IE oar RETR ET RE TRE RAE RT Reddy Ty I Al aT Rs an ers