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

HO ey yo oN '¥ Na Hy The above photo taken by Port Perry photographer W.H. Leonard was part of the Real él Collection and brought into the Star by Mrs. Pat 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, May 23, 1918 Lt. Col. Sam Sharpe, DSO, arrived home in Canada "together with a numer of other officers. to" Remember When..? 7 1 Boyd. Shé has no information about who the - people are or where the house is located." Do you know? If so let her know. Mr. Harron, Myrtle, has purchased a number of acres adjoining his own property - part of the Payne Farm - from Mr. Chas. Calder and will go into Continued on page 8 a i EL Naa PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, May 25, 1978 -- 5 letters Big Brothers Explanation To the Residents of Scugog Township: The Big Brother Asseci- atibn of Scugog District would like to apologize to the residents of Scugog Township for the failure of the CFTR Radio baseball team to show for the sche- duled game with the Big and Little Brothers last Tuesday night. No doubt the enclosed let- ter will explain our dis- appointment. Sincerely, John I. Stewart, M.D., . Past President, Big Brother Association of Scugog District. CFTR 680 Radio Rogers Ltd 25 Adelaide St. East, Toronto, Ontario Att: Ms. Barbara Grant Promotions Director Dear Ms. Grant: No doubt you are already aware of our great disap- pointment in your failure to show for the scheduled baseball game with the Big and Little Brothers of Scugog District. In our organization we are dealing with boys who have been let down by the most important person in their life - their father. This chotterbox ..... enough to hit with a pea-shooter, never mind a couple of ~ high-powered bazookas. A half-hour later we heard some shots, and a few of us started off for the dump. We found the hunters, but the bear, which we fully expected to be dead, was nowhere in sight "Did you get it?'we asked. "No, 'replied one of the hunters. 'But I think I winged it. We'll be back tomorrow to finish it off." That wasn't very reassuring news for the workers who were camped in the area. The idea of a wounded bear on the loose kept everybody pretty close to the bunk-house that On Tuesday, May 16th, a softball team made up of Big and Little Brothers from the Scugog Association was ready for a friendly match against the CFTR radio station all-stars. : ' It was a great night for baseball. The field was in good shape, the sun was shining brightly, the sky was blue, and there was no shortage of enthusiasm. By 6:30 game time, however, it became obvious that something was missing; the other team, the all-stars from «CFTR didn't show up. It seems that two hours earlier, the "all-stars had phoned organizers for the Big Brothers to cancel out. i The reason given was that it looked like rain. The Little Brothers were disappointed and so were the Big Brothers. In fact, a couple of them were, shall we say, furious. At the time the all-stars phoned to cancel out, it may have looked like rain in Toronto, but here in Port Perry the skies were clearing and the sun was out. Whatever, the reasons, the point is the all-stars had made a commitment, and one would think they could have at least showed up, tossed a ball around for a few minutes with ~ he Little Brothers, and then called the game off. That 'would have been a stellar gesture on their part, and more - than worth it in terms of a public relations gesture for the radio station. As it turned out, however, the evening wasn't a wash-out. Not by any means. The Little Brothers took to the field against the old guys and thorqughly Wiomped them, much to the delight of the spectators whb did show up. It would have been nice to see the radio all-stars in action, especially from the point of view of the kids. The game, after all, was organized for their benefit. But maybe there is a lesson to pe learned. The best of o times depends not on who is/there, but on spirit, enthusiasm, dedication and comrhitment. BEARS Last week the papers were filled with the horrifying story of the three Ottawa Valley youths who were killed by a black bear while fishing for trout in Algonquin Park near Pembroke.. I1took a particular interest in the story because I grew up in that part of the province and have taken many fishing trips into Algonquin Park not too far from where the : incident took place. As park officials pointed out last week, the black bear population in that part of Algonquin is healthy and thriving, and sightings of the animals, especially at this time of year, _ arenot uncommon. But never, in all the years I lived in that part of the province did I ever hear of anyone being . attacked by a bear, let alone killed by one. But that is not to say that I don't have a healthy respect for black bears, and I recall an incident several years ago that brought this point home. It was in the spring of the year and I was working for the - Lands and Forests on the annual tree planting program. Several miles inside Algonquin Park a crew of workers was travelling by half-ton truck down an old logging road when two bear cubs came out of the bush and crossed right in front of the truck. : ~ We stopped and waited. Hot on the trail of the cubs was --the mother bear. When she spotted the truck she immediately sent the two young ones scurrying up a large tree about 100 feet from the road. Instinctively she took up a position between the tree and truck, and constantly facing the truck started moving in a semi-circle. From the safety of the trick we watched the mother and the cubs for about fifteen minutes, and it was very easy to see that she was becoming more and more agitated, and slowly getting closer to the truck. From their vantage point high in the tree the two cubs watched the proceedings. It is one thing to sit in a half-ton truck with the windows up and watch an adult bear protect her young. It would-be something else altogether to be alone, on foot in the bush and get between a mother and her cubs. Bears are amazingly agile, despite their bulky size. They are much quicker in the bush than any human. And they are powerful. Another incident with a bear happened the same spring, as the gang of tree planters was housed in a bush camp close to Algonquin Park. There was a dumping area for the camp garbage not too far away, and in the evenings one could walk to the edge of the dump and watch a black bear happily foraging for food. While I'm sure the bear knew it was being watched, it paid absolutely no attention to the spectators, content simply to eat until satisfied and then 'disappear quickly into the forest. . One evening on the road near the camp we noticed two men walking towards the dump. They were hunters, and to say the least, they looked the part. Both were dressed from head to toe in those army-issue blotched camouflage suits. They wore gigantic back-packs, had knives hanging from their belts and compasses dangling around their necks. And they each carried rifles which looked mean enough to bring down a freight train. Actually, the two hunters were rather comical, with enough gear and equipment for six months in the bush. Anyway the two took off in the direction of the dump where the bear would be eating in plain view, and close night. often leaves them without the affection, advice and guidance of a mature male and they may frequently learn not to trust in relat- ionships with older persons, particularly males. In order to help these boys, we try to match them with a mature, dependable "Big Brother" who through a steady and lasting relat- ionship is able to demon- strate this maturity and dependability while provid- ing guidance, affection and an example worthy of the Little Brother's emulation. Our Board of Directors is a group of very busy per- sons who because of their interest in the Big Brother Movement have committed themselves to the fatherless boys in this area. We also believe that having made that commitment, it is one to be honoured. Your decis- ion to cancel the baseball game due to the slight poss- iblity of rain or diminishing numbers of volunteers, does not, in our opinion, demon- strate the kind of commit- ment that we expect both from ourselves and from our Big Brothers. I assure you that our organization including our Big and Little Brothers, Continued on page 6 The hunters never did come back (maybe they got lost, or something). And it was probably just as well because some of us were feeling a little angry that they would first of all want to kill the bear, and secondly, botch the job. We never saw the bear again, but a few days later heard -- that park officials had to shoot a ""nuisance" bear and found a rifle slug in its hind leg. No wonder it was acting a little strange. Most people who have spent any time at all in the forests of northeastern Ontario, either working or for recreation, have probably had at least one encounter with a black bear. Despite the gruesome incident that happened near Pembroke last Week; I still feel the same way about bears. They are animals who really don't want to have anything to do with humans. But at the same time I'll never forget the look that mother bear gave us when she was protecting her cubs. Anybody caught between her and the young ones would have been in for a rough time. (port perry star A Company Limited Phone 985.7383 Same, Gn (0A) : "a <4 Serving the Township of Scugog CSL] & J.PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager J.B. McCLELLAND Editor Subscription Rate: In Canada $8.00 per year Elsewhere $10.00 per year. Single copy 20¢ ih Sr Re) A Th, = Ce \