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PORT PERRY STAR -- Wed. Janvary 4, 1984 -- § the letters Sincere appreciation for nurses Dear Sir: During my recent stay in the Port Perry Community Memorial Hospital I had the opportunity to see at first hand the work of the nursing staff. Nurses have written a brilliant page in history, from the time of Florence Nightingale, treating the wounded and comforting the dying on the battlefield of the Crimea, to the Red Cross nurse of World War I -- the ledgendary "Rose of No-Man"s Land,' whose face adorned the tattoo- ed arm of many a World War 1 veteran, seldom seen now but fondly and vividly remembered. From World War II to the present time we have a new kind -- the "in-flight" nurse, who cares for the injured and helpless in hospital planes as they are flown from disaster or war zones back to safety, health, and home. Collectively and individually, the nurses in the Port Perry hospital are carrying on the glorious tradition. The saintly patience they display in treating even the most unsaintly patients is almost beyond belief. All of them -- Scotty, Carol, Linda, and other whose names I never learned -- are paragons of perfec- tion in my estimation; and I wish to proclaim publicly, for all to see and -hear, my sincere appreciation and grat- itude for their wonder- ous devotion and tender care. Yours very truly, Warren T. McCready Greenbank, Ontario sto PORT PERRY STARR CO LHTUTED (+cha J. PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager J.B. MCCLELLAND Editor CATHY ROBB News & Features ADVAN Commy nol Du A News, RI APtrs A530, 233 QUEEN STREET PO 80X90 PORT PERRY ONTARIO LO8 INO (416)985.738) (a) -- (049) . Fas | Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co Ltd . Port Perry, Ontario Authorized as second class mail by the Post Ottice Department. Ottawa. and tor cash payment of postage in cash Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $15.00 per year. Elsewhere $45.00 per year. Single copy: 35° remember when? . 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 3, 1924 On Christmas Fair Day, Port Perry young people "tagged" for the rink and succeeded in securing $109.00 which was supplemented with $117.00 from contributions. Philip Figary was returned as Reeve of Port Perry, as were Reeve George A. McMillan of Reach Township; Reeve Geo. Sweetman of Scugog Township and Reeve T.F. Bruce of Cartwright Township. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 13, 1949 Members of the Manchester Bull Syndicate have pur- chased the outstanding sire, "Seiling Sovereign Achilles." Mr. Glenn Malcolm has returned home to Blackstock from British Columbia where he has been taking a Diesel Engine course. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 8, 1959 Three first place winners: Miss Grace Davis, Mr. Harold Martyn and Mr. Len Clarke where chosen by the judges of the Christmas "House Decorating' contest. Lynn Fair, district representative of the Ontario Department of Agriculture described the present water shortage in Ontario County as the worst he can remember and blamed the shortage on lack of rainfall during the summer months. ~~ 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 2, 1964 Port Perry Junior Farmers elected Bruce MacMillan for the 1964 President, assuming the responsibilities of past president was Neil Raines. The rink of Bob Kenny, skip; Bill Beare, vice; Ken Murray, second and John Ballard, lead, won the Peel's Poultry Farm trophy on Boxing Day at the local curling arena's annual club bonspiel. 15 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 9, 1969 After 35 years of faithful service, Port Perry Fire Department chief Guy Raines has decided to retire. Present deputy-chief Harvey Mahaffy was elected to the position of chief and Jack Cook was given the job of deputy. At the December meeting, local council decided to sign an option of purchasing the property of E.G. Michell, better known as Birdseye Centre. A down payment of $5,000 was paid with the purchase being subject to gover- nment approval. The Scarborough Novice team won the Lions Club trophy in the 1st annual Port Perry Lions Club tour- nament. . 10 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 3, 1974 New Year's 1974 saw the birth of the new Scugog Township as Port Perry, Reach and Cartwright slipped out of existence at the stroke of midnight. When a key witness failed to show up at the OMB hearing regarding an application for zoning changes to allow Toronto developer Charles Santos to build a shop- . ping centre in the Prince Albert, Mr. Santos withdrew his application. The Office of the Supervising Coroner has announced the appointment of Dr. Robert C. Allin, Coroner of On- tario, Northumberland-Durham counties (Region of Durham). Dr. Allin, a graduate of the University of Toronto has practised in Port Perry since 1969. Dill sm; WRITING PLEASURES One of the deepest satisfactions in writing a column of this kind is the knowledge that you are getting into print the angers and frustrations of a lot of other peo- ple, who have no recourse for their resentments, and consequently take them out on the old man or the old lady. How do you know this? Well, because people write you letters, cheering you on to further attacks, and other people come up to you, perfect strangers, shake hands warmly, and say, 'By the Holy Ole Jumpin! Bill, you really hit the nail on the head." This can be a little disconcerting, as you are never quite sure which nail they are referring to. If the con- gratulator is a woman, I smile weakly and change the subject. Because, sure as guns, though she thought you were one of nature's noblemen for your assault on male chauvinism last week, she'll turn on you like a snake when she reads tomorrow's paper, with the column ex- posing fernale chauvinism. Speaking recently to a class of potential writers in a creative writing course, I tried to pass along the per- sonal satisfaction one gets from this type of personal journalism. [emphasized the 'personal' satisfaction, because there's a lot more of that involved than there is of the other kind, financial satisf. tion. Columnists and free- lance writers have no union working for them, nor any professional association, as have doctors. lawyers, teachers. They have only their own talent and wit and perseverance with which to penetrate the thick heads and thicker skins of editors and publishers. But it's a great feeling when you vent your wrath. say, about the rapaciousness of mechanics, and you are button-hold six times in the next three days by people ey with horror stories about mechanics you can scarcely believe. Trouble is, they all want you to write another col- umn about mechanics, and put some real meat into it. This means, in effect, that they would happily stand in the wings and applaud when you were sued for libel. Some readers would like you to be constantly at- tacking whatever it is that they don't like. Capitalists friends are aghast when you refuse to launch an assault on capital gains taxes. Welfarist friends think you are a traitor and a fink when you won't attack the govern- ment for not providing colour TV for everyone on the take. I am not by nature an attacker, and I think there is nothing more boring than a writer of any kind who tries to make a career of being a 'hard-hitting journalist. Once in awhile my gently bubbling nature boils over. Throwing caution and syntax to the winds. | let my spleen have a field day anc try to throw some sand in the grease with which many aspects of society are trying to give us a snow job. And that's one of the finest paragraphs I've ever written, if mixed metaphors are yourbag. Fair game for the hard-hitter are: garage mechanics, plumbers, postal workers, supermarkets, civil servants and politicians. Most of them can't hit back, and everybody hates them. except garage mechanics and their wives, plumbers and their wives, etc., etc. Smaller fry are doctors, lawyers, teachers, used car salesmen. They all squeal like dying rabbits when at- tacked, but nobody pays much attention to them, except doctors and their wives, etc. etc. There are a few areas that even the hardest-hitters avoid. When have you, lately, read a savage attack on 3reedy farmers, callous nurses, or unloving mothers"? And yet, there are lots of them around. One of these days, perhaps, one of these hard-hitting writers will muster enough guts, after about five bran. dies, to launch an all-out attack on the audacity of women, thinking they're as good as men. Boy, that fellow will learn what real hard-hitting is all about. Personally, 1 can't stay mad at anybody long enough to be a voice of the people, or a public watch- dog, or any of those obnoxious creatures who try to tell other people how they should feel. The only constant in my rage is the blatant manipulation of self-seeking politicians who will twist and warp and wriggle and squirm and bribe for self- perpetuation in office. Best example of the moment is the Tory government in Ontario, which has called a totally unnecessary election in that province through sheer hunger for greater power. Otherwise, 1 get a great deal more Joy from touching the individual life than inflaming the masses. When I get a letter from an old lady in hospital, crippl- ed with arthritis, who has managed to get a chuckle out of my column, it makes me feel good. Recently, I got a letter from a young Scot who has immigrated to Canada. He says: "I have learned more about Canada and Canadjans through reading your col- umn that all the accumulated wisdom from the Cana- dian news magazind ;, novels and TV programs I have absorbed." Now there is a man with his head screwed on right If I, as a newcomer, tried to get my impressions of this country from news magazines and TV programs, I'd catch the first boat or plane home. So, I guess I'll just try to go on talking to people, getting sore, having some fun, looking for sympathy in the war between the sexes. That's what life is all about, not plumbers and politicians and other horrors of that ilk. I