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6 - "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2001 Zephyr - Udora - Leaskdale - Sandford - Caesarea - Blackstock - Raglan - Nestleton - Yelverton - Prince Albert PUBLISHER, GEN. MGR. . . . ... Don Macleod -_|""~; EDITOR .................... Chris Hall TT 7 TN T Member OFFICE MANAGER .......... Gayle Stapley AQocna « < Canadian ADVERTISING MANAGER . .. Deb McEachem _--- i EIN D Row WCNA REPORTER................. .........Rk Davie Member Ontario Community Association Freelance : Heather McCrae, John B. McClelland Newspaper Assoc. PHONE 3059552333 Published every Friday by the Port Perry Star Company Limited, 188 Mary Street - Port Perry, Ontario - LIL 1B7 : ' me Distributed free in the following communities: Port Perry - Uxbridge - Sunderland - Little Britain - RR Lindsay Janetville E-MAIL: editorial@portperrystar.com : advertising@portperrystar.com Oakwood - Manilla - Seagrave - Greenbank - Brooklin - Ashburn - Columbus - RR Oshawa 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 Letters must be signed and the telephone number (which wil not be published) included. Requests that a name be withheld will be honoured only if there is a compelling reason to do so. Errors willbe coectsd if brought o the editor's atention. Wa reserve the right to edit or refuse publioaton of any material submitted. ADVERTISING POLICY: The publisher is not liable for sight changes of typographical ertors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher is not able for uther rtors of Omisins in connection with any advertisement in any subsequent issue or the refund of any monies paid for the advertisement. All claims of error in publication must be made by Wednesday, noon, prior to the next week's publication, and, if not made, will nt be considered. No claim will be allowed for more than one nserton. BUSINESS OFFICE: Judy Ashby, Kathy Dudley, Janet Rankin, Lesley West ADVERTISING: Ginni Todd, Cindy Jobin, Gail Morse, Janet Archer, Tracy Souch, Suzanne Sutherland PRODUCTION MANAGER: Pamela Hickey Production Staff: Trudy Empringham, Daryle Wright, Arlene Cheel OPINION A helping hand Response by citizens when they are needed can be, at times, quite sur- prising and heroic. In today's Star is the story of two citizens of North Durham who took time out from an uneventful drive and took an allegedly impaired driver off the road by first following the man, then pulling him over to the side of the road and then blocking him in until police could arrive and take him into custody. North Durham police officials called their actions great, while adding t their statement a word of caution, Those cautions are important ones. To be sure, the battle against crime is not one that is won or lost. It is, at best, a battle of numbers. The more we can reduce crimes of all types the better the battle is going. Police cannot do it themselves, numbers and budgets preclude that. Be vigilant, like these two fine citizens, and call police when you see something that seems out of place in your neighbourhood, pick up your cell phone when you see a driver acting dangerously and get involved in the battle. But... and here comes the caution... do not become a participant. Don't approach anyone you think may be up to criminal activities, don't put yourself in harm's way. Use information as your weapon against crime. Note license numbers, car descriptions take a good look at anyone you deem suspect. Know who belongs in your neighbourhood and who does not. Doing so resulted in the arrest of several persons this week in Prince Albert and the recovery of a large quantity of possibly stolen articles. The actions of the citizens of North Durham are doing more and more to stem the tide of crime and the education of our children against criminal elements will make an even more vigilant generation to come after us. Fight crime in any way you can, but be careful out there. | We Walt Radda Your favourite community papers have gone global! The Port Perry Star and Weekend Star recently made their way through Paris, France with Tom Gyokery, who took along some of his favourite reading materials for the trip. 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 I \GDOGY THERE IT 1S NOW! ev Be POG! CMON Bis Doo Nn WHAT'RE You Donggy| LETS GET HE CAN YOU LIE AROUND Wher? "RIGHT, 3 THAT WHEN THERE! Co } irs GET HIM pV WN THE HOUSE?H : " LF nC f 7h WYSE A CAT. HERE 1 Go! HERE 1 Go! HERE 1 GON | , . \ N= | ~~, 0) To the Editor: Well, it would appear that the gloves are off in the fight for and against the.new Student Accommodation Plan, judging from a -- the recent diatribe in the local papers by Karyn Cotie that is. Battle lines are being drawn between neighbours, friends, and even families. Is this an emotional issue? Sure it is. The parents of Epsom Public School are fighting hard to preserve the excellent quality edu- cation our children receive. This fight how- ever is not about quality education but about dollars and cents. Rather than pres- suring the school trustees who are between a rock and a hard place on this issue, would it not make more sense for the Uxbridge and Scugog communities to unite and lobby the government to change the way they fund the education system? This is where our battle should be - not amongst our- selves. This is 'the higger picture' we should all be seeing. This is how we can improve the quality of education for all of our stu- dents. CAT GET YouR TONGUE", YET. AD BY NOSE. AD BY TAIL. Scugog, Uxbridge should unite to save their schools Every day we hear stories of the govern- "ment wasting our tax dollars needlessly - do we really need to spend $700,000 on an education survey? Do you know what a dif- ference that money could make for small schools like Epsom Public School? By all means, write, fax and e-mail away but please focus your concerns where they can make a difference. And by the way, our school is not underused nor do we have idle student space. (We are operating above the ministry rated capacity). We are not a financial drain on the education system. As we all know, statistics can be compiled and manipulated to portray any point of view and when the data is inaccurate to begin with, they are worthless. Anyone interested in hearing the facts can attend the Durham District School Board Office on Dec. 3 when Epsom Public School will make our final presentation and draw your own conclusions. Kellie Townson, Utica