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6 - "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2001 Distributed free in the following communities: Port Perry - Uxbridge - Sunderland - Little Britain - RR Lindsay Janetville Oakwood - Manilla - Seagrave - Greenbank - Brooklin - Ashburn - Columbus - RR Oshawa Zephyr - Udora - Leaskdale - Sandford - Caesarea - Blackstock - Raglan - Nestleton - Yelverton - Prince Albert E-MAIL: editorial@portperrystar.com advertising@portperrystar.com PUBLISHER, GEN. MGR. ...... Don Macleod PHT SENIOR REPORTER .......... Chris Hall TF TON TC Member OFFICE MANAGER .......... Gayle Stapley Qocna K EN D Canadian ADVERTISING MANAGER .. . Deb McEacher : : Fradiiind Ww CNA REPORTER................ ... ......Rik Davie Member Ontario Community Association Freelance : Heather McCrae, John B. McClelland Newspaper Assoc. . PHONE 905-985-7383 FAX 905.985.3708 Published every Friday by the Port Perry Star Company Limited, 188 Mary Street - Port Perry, Ontario - L9L 1B7 BUSINESS OFFICE: Judy Ashby, Kathy Dudley, Janet Rankin, Lesley West ADVERTISING: Ginni Todd, Cindy Jobin, Gail Morse, Linda Clarke, Janet Archer, Lisa Monk, Lori Bradbury PRODUCTION MANAGER: Pamela Hickey "Production Staff: Trudy Empringham, Daryle Wright, Arlene Cheel EDITORIAL POLICY: Opinions expressed by columnists, contributors and letter writers are not necessarily those of The Port Perry Star. Letters must be signed and the telephone number (which will not be published) included. Requests that a name be withheld will be honoured only if there is a compelling reason to do so. Emors will be corrected if brought to the editor's attention. We reserve the right to edit of refuse publication of any material submitted. ADVERTISING POLICY: The publisher is not liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher is not liable for other emors or omissions in connection with any advertisement in any subsequentissue or the refund of any monies paid for the advertisement. All claims of error in publication must be made by Wednesday, noon, prior to tha next week's publication, and, if not made, will not ba considered. No claim will be allowed for more than one insertion. OPINION Average results The Grade 3 and 6 test results in reading, writing and math for the province and the Region of Durham have been released by the Education Quality and Accountability Office and the jostling for top spot has begun already. Like parents with report cards in hand, journalists are seeking quotes and figures to back up the fact that their area's kids are smarter than... well anybody else's kids. Figures for the EQAO tests are fuzzy in that they use 70 per cent as a bar for grading. While over 80 per cent of our kids passed, only a figure in the mid-50s to mid-60s emerge as having made the provincial grade of 70 per cent. Even so, grades among the students of North Durham, while not available until December, have, in the past, always been well above or slightly above provincial expectations. The grades for our elementary students in math could be higher, but then we could all do with a little better number-crunching these days. The figures for reading and writing are steadily moving up and yes... girls still do better than boys and yes small schools with smaller classrooms still do better than large over-crowded schools. | Hey! Smaller schools? Aren't they trying to close one of those? | In the end, the Durham schools, both public and separate, are making slow progressive gains in student achievement. It takes time, and time is being taken. Ee Td On Sunday, if you can't make it to a Remembrance Day service, stop for a moment at I 1 a.m. and think about the men who left this country for war, and did not make it home. Think about the men who left to keep the peace, and did not make it home, and lastly, please think about the soldiers and sailors who right now look out over an oceanscape from the rails of their fighting ships as they sail to the Mid-East for yet another date with tyranny. Heather Callan sent in this photograph of her five-year-old daughter Rachel making a new friend during a recent visit to Santa's Village in Bracebridge. We're looking for more good photos for this space, so 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. LETTERS HOLD ON THERE MISaY! WHERE'S [Gen am OFF TO BED) To the Editor: (A copy of a letter sent to Rick Penstone of the Port Perry Minor Hockey Association. A petition including the names of all players sup- porting the issue was enclosed with the letter.) Dear Mr. Penstone The issue of non-contact in the Bantam-Midget level is a real concern or problem to some. The game of hockey is meant to be played with a little bit of I HAVE TO SAY, EVER SINCE THAT PUP CAME ALONG OUR rit DENTAL HYGIENE HAS BEEN gut. . OUTSTANDING! Personally, | wasn't aware of this infor- a mation at the time of registration. | am extremely disappointed, as this has | taken away a big part of the principle of the game. It frustrates me that there are kids many years younger than us out there playing the game the way that it should be played and yet we are stuck playing the way we used to play in Tyke. We were taught how to hit and survive in a game of body contact, and have See more at: Raddicaitoons.com We want to play hockey the way it was meant to be played been doing so for the last four to six years now. So why is it that all of a sudden we are no longer allowed to? Is it because of the age difference? Every kid I have asked has said they miss the contact. We are at the age now where the physical aspect of the game should not be a factor. Honestly, | am not sure who made the rule whether it was the O.M.H.A. or Port Perry Minor Hockey, but this is not the way it should be. I don't mean to show any disrespect to anybody what so ever. All I am doing is stating what most of the kids in the league are thinking about. We just want to play this great Canadian game called hockey, the way it was meant to be played. Thank you for your time. Paul A. Herold Port Perry editorial@portperrystar.com