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PANALT ACR GS) REINS fi SELETO Sher Bo SOLE Aa Kids, duds & heredity The only confession this writer sees fit to make in his nine months in the community is an item that downgraded the youngsters of the community. ""Duds," we called them in a column way back last winter. Well, since then we"ve had a re-thinking. Items like last week's Scout-Cub-Brownies-Guides annual meeting of parents has changed our minds. Seems that 6f the well over 100 youngsters involved in scout hall activities, only the association's executive and group leaders showed up. In other words, if the kids are duds, it was inherited. Hanging is murder, too It would be a naive politician who, today, can approach the 'issue of the abolition of capital punishment without' 'some trepidation claims the United Church of Canada. But, sooner or later it must be faced and out leaders must give us some guidance. Police chiefs, law enforcement associations, municipal politicians and private citizens are demanding the return of the noose or some other form of execution for murder. Whether it be for the murder of policemen and prison guards, premeditated murder, murder by insane persons or simple crimes of passion, there seems to be a vocal and substantial section of society that believes capital punishment is the only suitable way of dealing with murder. The reams of statistics, the endless studies by competent authorities and the clear pronouncements by many church leaders that hanging is no deterrent for murderers and merely brutalizes society seems to have little effect on people who are engulfed in revulsion when they hear of a particularly senseless or brutal crime inflicted on some innocent child. All society is afflicted with horror at such crimes. The perpetrators must be dealt with but to eradicate them is simply an act of social revenge. Our laws could be toughened up sufficiently to ensure that no convicted murderer would be released until it is certain he will not repeat the act. But death, by whatever means and let us be clear there is no 'humane' way of execution, is morally indefensible. Forgiveness, compassion, rehabilitation are part of the moral fibre of our society at its best, and these instincts must not be blunted in the first waves of emotion. Those who suggest that capital punishment is a deterrent must be prepared to return to public executions and put them in prime family hour TV viewing. That would no doubt be the fastest way to ensure this barbaric method of punishment is forever eliminated. The irrevocable act of hanging on the part of society...all of us...precludes any chance to study and remedy the causes of these crimes. It strikes at the very sanctity of human life that our Judeao-Christian heritage so cherishes. Surely we can find more humane, effective and just ways of seeing that threats to our life and liberty are. dealt with, than by hanging people. ° 7 FZ 0 od */s HERE A DOCTOR IN THE HousSE 7" A & , (M AR Remember When..? 50 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 15, 1975 A Greenbank farmer, James Lee, well-known in plowing competition circles for many years started his career 50 years ago when he won second prize in class two "sod, open to all who never won a prize in a plowing match before". He also won the Township Special for Reach. John W. Platten, a former Port Perry boy and president of the United States Mort- gage and Trust Company was - honoured with a testimonial dinner on the occasion of his 20th year of association with the Company. A pulpit of Gothic design, created by a local craftsman, E. Brookes, will be dedi- cated, Sunday evening, October 18 in -the Church of the Ascension. The pulpit is made of oak and is an excellent piece of work. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 19, 1950 Competition was keen for the Port Perry Public School annual field day. The cham- pions are as Follows: Senior 4 girl - Helen Williams, runner- up Marilyn Walker; Senior Boy - Garnet Warriner, runner-up Dale Warriner; . Junior girl - Beryl Palmer, runner-up Valerie Fralick; Junior boy - Robert Carnegie, runner-up Billy Cornish. Hugh Baird, Blackwater and. Donald Dunkeld, Clare- mont, both members of the Ontario County Junior Plough team won the Inter- national County class trophy. The Shirley Wonteg's Jnsti-, tute held their 40th ahpjver- sary this week at the home of Mrs. Allan Moore with an attendence of 47 ladies and 10 children present. Mrs. Fred Toms proposed the toast to the chartered members, Mrs. Sinclair Robertson replied. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 20, 1960 The new municipal build- ing was opened to the public for inspection on Saturday, AAA R AL SAE A EAA RS Oct. 15. The interested were "welcomed 'by Reeve J. J. Gibson, Deputy Reeve W. T. Harris, and Councillors Cox, Boyd and 'Kenny. Clerks John Raines and Brison Cox and the secretaries Mrs. Margaret Hayes and Mrs. Wendy Bateman were also present to answer questions. The winning touch-downs were scored by Frank Field- ing, Wayne Powell and Phil Clark in a football game with Uxbridge High School where the local boys were victorious 19-14. Mr. Harold Honey, Sea- grave, received the top price for a female at the 18th All. "Canadian Holstein sale at Oakville, October 18th. $2,700.00 was paid for the three-year-old heifer, Honey- vale Nancy A.B.C. Reflec- tion, purchased by Roman- .dale Farms, Unionville. Bob. Timbers, Mount Albert, placed fourth in the World Ploughing Champion- ship, won by Britain's John Gwilliam. Tale of a tooth Ld .10 YEARS AGO Thursday, October 21, 1965 Mr. and Mrs. Jack Hope entertained the staff of the IGA store at their annual banquet which was held at Club Kingsway. William D. Gillespie, Reeve of Beaverton, has in- dicated he will seek the position as Warden of Ontario County. He has been Reeve of Beaverton for the past 4 eight years. Jim Gerrow of Scugog Island was the winner of the Port Perry Lions Grain Club Trophy this year, he received 927 marks out of a possible 1000. ' Members of County Coun- cil, staff and friends were 4 guests of Warden J. J. Gibson at his cottage at Fralick's Beach. A delicious roasted suckling pig was enjoyed by some 50 guests. At Sunday School in Sea- grave last Sunday, the atten- dance was 78. Mr. Ken Sturman was acting super- intendent. Ae? 3 Fas ee -- i PI One of my recurring dreams is that all my teeth are crumbling, and breaking off like toast. It's a terrible nightmare and I always wake up sweating, jam some fingers into my mouth and groan with relief when I find the teeth are still there, and with pain because I have bitten my fingers. Today I feel that I'm having a daymare, rather than a nightmare. Last night at dinner, one of my front teeth came away in the midst of a glorious dish of curried chicken. Ilove curried chicken, and this time my wife had excelled herself, whatever that means, but I am not keen on curried chicken with teeth in it, even when they are my own. However, this incident did not alarm me, unduly or otherwise. It was only ny peg tooth. Every couple of months it. comes unscrewed or whatever, I carefully comb it out of the soup or spaghetti, trot down to the dentist with it clutched in my hand; he dusts it off, pops it back in, cements it in place and I'm back in business, stuffing my guts. But this morning, munching my matins (in this case a ripe yellow pear that tasted, as so much fruit does nowadays, like wet card- hoard), I crunched on something hard. Now I know that pears do not hgve either bones or stones. They have pips. And I knew that this particular pear did not even have a pip, 3 because my loving wife, knowing I was one tooth short from the night before, had disembowelled it. Right, another front tooth broken off, just beside the missing peg. There was no pain in either case. Just a sense of horror and self-disgust, as I have in the nightmare. It's bad enough to pull a filling when eating toffee, or to snap off a bit of molar when you crunch down on an unsuspected beef-bone, or even to have an aching tooth yanked. But to have one break off when eating an over-ripe pear... Yeeeccch! Istill wasn't plunged into the depths. Some people go for years with no hair on their heads (and plant articles in magazines suggesting baldies are more virile). Others go all their lives with no brains to speak of. 1 reckoned I could get through the day without two teeth. And Idid. But by noon, the tip of my tongue was raw and shredded, from'thrusting it into that jagged crevice (crevasse?). But I was coping. And I knew that if 1 hustled down to my friendly dentist, he would squeeze me in somehow, and patch me up somehow. ; I should have known better. From my air force days, I know that disaéters always come in threes. Right in the middle of a brilliant lesson on the use of four-letter words in Victorian literature (such as "legs"), somebody, somehow, rammed a red-hot needle into a tooth in my lower jaw-bone, four teeth and two spaces from the missing ones. I almost screamed aloud. I screamed silently. The needle was removed. Two minutes later, that red-hot needle plunged into the tooth directly above (I have two teeth on that side, upper and lower, and they are fairly friendly with each other, because there is nobody else around).. This time I couldn't help it. I emitted "Huh!"!, as though someone were driving a stake through my heart. I sagged into my chair, white and shaken. You can always depend on students. They rally around when things are tough, despite their outward cynicism. They're all heart inside that tough exterior. "I think the old sod's havenna hardatak. Wuddell we do?" "Jeez, I hope he hazzen godour tests marked yet, I think I failed mine." "Maybe he's just godda bad hangover. Slap him in the face a coupla times and he might come arpund." Icame out of it, of course, and pretended I was enacting Heathcliff's grief in Wuthering Heights. When they looked as though they.a didn't believe me, I curled back my bottom lip and snarled at them with my new gap-toothed look. They shut up. ' When everything cooled town, I realized that my back teeth were merely expressing sympathy forYmy lost front teeth. It made them lonelier than ever. But they didn't have to shriek their sympathy at such volume. My whole jaw has been aching for the remainder of this dark day, but the red-hot needle has cooled to a blunt instrument. As soon as I finish telling you this fascinating episode of a continued story called "One Man's Fangs", I'm going straight to the dentist, and have him rip every tattered remnant of bone out of my head." : . Then Iam going up to the hospital and have the calcium chipped off my right footbone, a my gall-bladder removed, just in case it ever acts up, a heart-pacer put in, and three or four pints of blood, in the event of anemia. I might even have my ears pierced, just for the hell of it. [don't trust the old carcass any more. If a my teeth start crumbling when I'm just a broth of a boy, who knows what bits and pieces may fall off. when I'm 85. as I fully intend to be? The Argyle Syndicate Ltd.