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JASE AA RY = hg ATR VAAN ISR EAS 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, April 5, 1983 REA RATS TEAL PL RAE JNO SNE) SAY SJ PARSE TRE SE ROE AEN ARTISYS CLARE «BATE WY ar LEAR | 35 WUD ARSE SEE 1 A See UHRA LINAS ARR PUREST 2A HL Rie WO AH POASFRIN LSS EIT da FRE PIR RMOIES RE £7 AE (VIL PATI RATE VICAR 9 A008 Iti SPUR, SOA J At y al itorial comments chatterbox by John B. McClelland A A SLUR ON THE COMMUNITY .% A slur has been slapped on the good name of Port Perry. 5s The community and the fine people who live here $x have been defamed, held up to scorn and ridicule of the most vile kind. Yes, dear readers, Port Perry has been linked to some dirty backwater in the swamps of Georgia, our inhabitants compared to these nasty characters in the movie "Deliverance." come to our fair community do so at their peril and when they partake of lunch in a local restaurant, feel obligei- - to sit with their backs to the wall. Horrors. Oh, the shame, the shame of it all. The source of this torrent of blasphemy against Port Perry and its dear citizens is an article which appeared in the March 29 issue of "Neighbours East," a weekly supplement to the Toronto Star newspaper. co ho In a column by a certain Ms. Susan Noakes under oh the heading. "Out to Lunch," the author reviews ' Crandell's'Riverboat on Water Street. ' Although she found the food service to her liking, Ms. Noakes seemed just a wee bit up-tight about some of the people who were in the restaurant when she made her appearance. I quote: : : "Some of the clientele seemed to have stepped straight out of Deliverance and we felt obliged to sit somewhere we could keep our backs to the wall. The result was an unpleasant draft." Really. Now, we all know there are a few bad boys in Port Perry with good old fashioned country muscles sou who may be a tad rough around the edges. But right out of the movie Deliverance? Indeed, Ms. Noakes! Lake Scugog is hardly the Withlacoochee River. - Anyone who saw Deliverance when it came out a few years ago may recall that three city boys ran a-foul of the locals while on. a canoe trip through the backwoods of Georgia (maybe it was Kentucky). Ms. Noakes must have been in a very unpleasant mood for she took some rough back-hand swipes at the exterior and interior of the restaurant, describing it as having a 'general air of disrepute." Thankfully, the rest of the review was ver favourable as Ms. Noakes praised the wholesome food, the coffee, the pastry, the price and the service. But the outrageous slur had been cast and Jo amount of praise could repair the damage done. The ar- | ticle and its reference to the people in Deliverance has i created quite a stir in Port Perry and especially among y those who dine at Crandell's from time to time. They ring to. _ When Dan, who manages the restaurant, saw the The suggestion has been made that visitors who all want to know if they are the ones Ms. Noakes is refer- article he was pleased about the glowing tributes to the food, but understandably just a little upset at the other references. I suggested that maybe he could cash in on the publicity and take out a full page ad in the Toronto Star, asking city folk to drep in for a great meal and check out the country bumpkins at the samé'timeé. Reserva- tions needed for tables against the walls, of course. "Maybe even the local Chamber of Commerce could swamp north of the Mason-Dixon Line. ~~ get-in on the action and plug Port Perry as the toughest - Can't you just see all those trendies leaving their - quiche and mineral water in the eateries of Bloor West to flock to the boondocks to see the show? rt Perry on the map. cle which did appear in the Toronto paper and did say those things about the restaurant and some of its clientele. } But I'm not nearly as upset as I appear to be. Us good old boys know that if you take a city girl and bring her to the country, she's bound to be a little uncomfor- table at the way we carry on. Anyway, Ms. Noakes, all will be forgiven if you should happen to read this and agree to pay a return visit to beautiful downtown Port Perry. I personally will escort you around town, introduce you to some of the finest people this side of Georgia, even buy you a drink.at Crandell's Riverboat. And we won't have to sjt with our backs tq the wall. _ A PREDICTION eT This is an important week for arm-chair jocks as the major league baseball season gets underway and the hockey playoffs start. Wo Without any scientific study or inside information, here are a few off-the-cuff predictions. . Montreal and Edmonton will meet in the Stanley Cup final some time in early June. The Maplé Leafs will lose in five games to the North Stars. So much for the hockey. : In baseball, the Blue Jays will finish no higher than fifth in their tough division When October rolls around, the Expos and the Yankees will be in the World Series. You read it here. - I had the pleasure Saturday of watching several of the final games in the Port Perry Minor Hockey House Leage. For the most part, the games were superb, evenly matched and played with a great deal of intensity and skill. A tip of the hat to the players on all teams and to the coaches for a job well-done. Ms. Noakes, you may in an unintential way, have Seriously, this has been a bit of a spoof on the arti- x We are pleased to see that Scugog Township coun- * cil has decided to at least explore the possibility of im- ". plementing a minimum standards property by-law for this municipality. Such a by-law, which is in force in several neighbouring communities, including Uxbridge, essen- tially sets out standards for the maintenance, ap- pearance and general repair of all lands and structures in the Township. It gives the Township the legal clout to demand that citizens maintain their properties at a minimum level of acceptability. At present, Scugog Township does not have this legal clout, and as Ward 1 councillor Neil Hunter said at the meeting of council March 28, it is a shame when property owners lodge legitimate complaints and the council has to tell them there is virtually nothing that can be done. It was councillor Hunter who proposed that Scugog set the wheels in motion to get a needed by-law of this kind on the books. There is no question that enforcement of the by-law will present problems and taking court action is a drawn out and expensive exercise. However, the mere fact that such a by-law is on the books may be enough of a lever for the municipality to get property owners to voluntarily comply with the regulations. Most people take a degree of pride in the condition of their lands and buildings, but there will always be a few who don't-give a darn about an unsightly eyesore, which offends, or worse, presents an un-necessary threat to the safety and health of others. If this kind of by-law can deal with the more flagrant violators, then it will serve a purpose for the improve- ment of the community. We are told that implementing such a by-law is a lengthy process which.could take a year or so. That's fine. Township council should proceed carefully to mold a by-law which is suitable to this municipality. But at least the process is underway, for we don't have to look very far in Port Perry, anyway, to know that a by-law of this kind is overdue. > . , ~The Tories The Conservative leadership convention to be held in Ottawa early in June is shaping up as a political free- for-all. ' 'Already in the leadership campaign, there are in- dications that this will be a no-holds-barred, gloves off affair which may offend the purists and certainly will not be for the faint of heart. There are stories of constituency meetings packed with youngsters, ten-minute Tories, and even a bus-load of homeless men who were treated to a few beers after voting for the delegates of their choice. All of this has caused quite a bit of negative press, but it is not surprising that when reps of the candidates met in Ottawa over the weekend, they were not able to come up with a "'gentleman's agreement" to keep the so-called "dirty tricks' to a minimum. Party officials fear that if the game gets too unruly and nasty between now and June when delegates final- ly get around to selecting a leader, the Canadian public will be too horrified at the shenanigans to support the Party in the next general election. ' The Party just might:be better advised to worry about the fact that in the race so far, the two front run- ~.ners are the man who had to step down as leader to run for the leadership, and a man who has never been elected to public office in his life. It is looking more and more like a run to wire between Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney with the rest of the candidates getting little more than a passing nod. Both have their strengths, to be sure, but they have a fair number of liabilities, too. The stakes in this leadership race are high, very high. The man who finally emerges on top stands a very good chance of winning/the next general election to become Prime Minister of this country. id Most Canadians know that politics is not a game played Sunday afternoons over tea and biscuits. It is a dirty game filled with back-stabbing, intrigue, and when necessary, a solid kick in the teeth (figuratively speak- ing, of course) : What we are seeing is the process that is played by all parties in one form or another en route to winning * power. These so-called "dirty tricks' of the last week or so are the opening skirmishes. Wait until the drama shifts to the final field of battle.