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Yesterday's Memories 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 19, 1925 Messers. Robert Vernon and son of Prospect won several prizes on their draft team at the Royal Winter Fair. The play 'Aunt Susan's Visit' staged by the people of Scugog, held at the Town Hall, Port Perry, was a great success. Also the musical numbers rendered by Miss Mary Pearce, Mr. Weir and Miss Studdaford. Mrs. George Jackson was elected president of the Union Ladies Aid, she replaces Mrs. John Ploughman. The C.N.R. Workmen have just completed painting the Prince Albert station. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 16, 1950 Mr. Walter Thomson of Ajax is the new leader of the Ontario Liberals. He was elected at a convention of over 1,000 Liberals held at the Royal York in Toronto. The Bruton Farms Silver Service from the Pakistan Government is OQ Jisplay at the Royal Winter Fair and the crowds are queing up deep for a view of it. Commencement exercises will be held in the United Church Auditorium and scholarships will be presented to Doris DeNure, Mary Wilkinson, and Howard Garvey. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, November 17, 1960 Bell Telephone Manager, Mr. J.W. Lowery, announced that plans were underway for the opening of a new dial exchange in Blackstock. The new office will be equipped to serve 550 telephone numbers. Hand railing have been added to the steps at the Post Office. Mrs. Ruby Beare was installed as Noble Grand of Maybelle Rebekah Lodge. The officers this year for the Cartwright Fire Brigade, are Fire Chief, Chas. Miller, sec. Ray Gould, and Reg. Haines, treasurer, Mr. Brayley. 20 YEARS AGO. Thursday, November 11, 19685 Valedictorian this year at the annual High School Commence- ment was Miss Linda Stone. Rev. Douglas Pilkey was the speaker. At the regular meeting of Council, it was moved by Deputy-Reeve I. Boyd that Frank Haddleton have the job of Dog Controller. It was recommended that a retainer fee of $12.50 per month be made plus $5.00 for each dog picked up to compensate the Dog Controller for boarding the dogs. At a meeting of the 1.0.D.E. a life membership was presented to Mrs. MacFarlane. Mrs. Dymond spoke on their trip to Russia and showed pictures. Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Gibson celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The Ontario and York Teachers Convention was held at the Port Perry Public School, Mr. Stuart Lane president opened the meeting. Addresses were given on Junior and Senior Physical Education. Din- ner was served at the Masonic Temple. (Turn to page 7) PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, November 19, 1985 -- § Letters Boarding house much needed Dear Sir: In regards to the article a few weeks ago 'Boarding house re- jected." To the neighbours of Mr. Richard Young - shame on you for being so selfish. You sit in your nice homes all snug not caring that there is no affordable housing for our young and single people. Do you know the cost of a bachelor apart- ment in this town ($350.00 to $400.00 New laws welcome Dear Sir: With the announcement of photo drivers licences by Transport Minister Ed Fulton, it would appear that the Ontario government is mak- ing a more realistic appraisel of crime and punishment. Also the recent announcement by Ontario Attorney General lan Scott to toughen up the penalties for im- paired drivers is a welcome reform that is long overdue. At long last penalties for impaired drivers are to be stiffened. Losing their licence for a longer period of time helps, but so many will drive without a licence anyway. I have been in court, seen a driver lose his licence and that same afternoon still be driving. The jail term is long past due. The Ontario government should be careful not to fill our jails by offer- ing wine and beer at the local cor- ner stores. This is one government election promise that if retracted would be a blessing and not a curse. What may work for any other pro- vince may not work for Ontario. 1 do hope you have read or heard about the Designated Drivers Pro- gram which has just been launched in the Durham Region. This program with one objective; reduce the number of drinking (Turn fo page 6) plus utilities) How do you expect a student on welfare to afford that" | know of at least three young peo ple trying to get their education but are on a fixed income and cannot af- ford an apartment. Denying them affordable housing is denying them an education as you can't go to school if you can't afford to hve anywhere. One of the reasons brought up by those opposed was the parking. You've got to be kidding! Only one person in that household has a car yet there is adequate park- ing for 5 in the two driveways. His home is situated across the street from the Scout Hall which does in- deed have a terrible parking pro- blem. Maybe the neighbours have the two mixed up. Why would they put up with the overflow of cars parked all over both sides of the road a couple of times a week each and every week. Do you complain about that? Mrs. Marj Tripp of our local Real Estate Office and Mrs. Ann Wan- ninkhof of our Social Service can both verify, I'm sure, that we have a housing shortage. To the coun- cilmen Shame on You for not look- ing into the matter before rejecting it. You were on our council to make BELVEDERE decisions on what was best for our town. What 1s needed 1s affordable housing. What were you doing about it? rejecting it And the way it was rejected, in my books, was underhanded. When Mr. Young asked about a decision he was informed that one would be made at the next council meeting. Then he read about it being rejected the next day in this very paper. I feel Mr. Young is owed an apology from the council for pulling a fast one. (waiting until the informal meeting was over to make a formal ruling to reject the needs of the town to satisfy the wants of a few). Now | read in this week's paper how the council has given the *'green light' to town houses, which is great as long as they are going to be affor- dable to those in need. Believe it or not councilmen, not all of us out here are dentists, doctors, or business owners. Maybe now that we have some new council members some political back-scratching won't be more important than the issues at hand. Yours truly, Mrs. R. Cameron, Port Perry. THE WORLD OF ow y RE Bill Smiley STORM WINDOWS For years or more, we got along fine with ordinary storm windows. Oh, I'll admit they caused a certain amount of domestic hassle, chiefly because they were put on too late in the fall, or taken off too early in the spring, ac- cording to the old lady. But she was always in a rush to "get things done." I get them done, eventually. Never once did I fail to find someone who would put them on before Christmas. And they were kind of ugly. And they did warp. And they did have to be painted. And it was costing more money every year to get someone to do the job. But, ah, what a good feeling I had every fall when I'd conned some guy with a strong back to do the job. I wouldn't touch them with a six-foot pole. It's a big house, and there were 14 of the brutes, weighing about 70 pounds each. I don't mind heights, as long as I'm not attached to the ground. I've been up to 32.000 feet, all by myself, in a Spitfire, and higher than that in passenger jets. But it takes all my nerve to climb a step ladder and change a bulb in the kitchen, with my someone holding the ladder. There was no way | was going to climb 30 feet up a ladder, carrying a 70 pound storm window, and punch and hammer it into place I always had a vision of a wind catching the storm broadside when I was halfway up. and taking me off for a hang-gliding trip That actually happened to one chap who was doing the job one fall A gust caught him and he sailed off the ladder, landed on his feet like a cat, still clutching the window, and nothing was damaged. He just grinned. That was Jim Fletcher, a young fellow who was completely unafraid of work. Made his living at clean- ing floors, windows, etc. and built up a nice little business, scrubbing out banks and stores and such at nights. You don't see too many merchants or bank managers in there scrubbing their floors after they've closed, do you? Might do them good. Jim used to charge $14 to put on the storms, which included washing them, and washing the outside of the regular windows, storing the screens. It took him a cou- ple of hours. In the spring, he'd take them off, wash everything again, store them, for $10. The price went up steadily after he went to greener pastures, and the quality of the workmen went steadi- ly downhill. Some of the young guys I hired took twice as long and charged twice as much. Sometimes the win- dows would stick and they'd leave it with a one-inch gap around half of it. One bird put his fist through a storm and bled all over the place Another dropped one and glassed half my front lawn. Last year, I had a young fellow, newly started in the cleaning-up of properties, raking leaves, thut sort of thing. I gave him the job of doing the estate, provid- ed he'd do the storms. He looked pretty dubious, but agreed. Brought his wife around on her day off to hold the ladder. Well, he got them all, but he was pea-green and his legs were rubber, when he'd finished He swore he'd never do them again. By this time it was costing me almost $100 a year to get the brutes on and off. Not to mention a great deal of harassment from the distaff side, and a frantic search for a putter-onner. Nobody on unemployment insurance was vaguely interested. All this, combined with the energy crisis propagan- da, made me cave in, and we had aluminum storms put on. I could have paid $100 a year for the next 13 years if I'd stuck with the old wooden ones. "But look what you'll save on fuel," you say. That's what they all say. Probably 50 bucks a year. "It will in- crease the value of your house," someone else says. Maybe. By a few hundred. But it's not the money that bothers me. You can't take it with you. Seems to me you can't take a house with you either. No, it's not the money; it's the stress. Those win- dows have to be washed spring and fall, and maybe a few times between. According to the brochure, and the dealer, there's nothing to it. You just tear off the wooden inside frame, hoist your inside window, push this, pull that, and the storm comes in. You wash it. Then you get out on the ledge, hang- ing on by one hand and one foot, 30 feet off the ground, and clean the outside. After which, if you get back in, you just zip, whip, slide, lower your inside window, and hammer back on your now splintered wooden frame. My wife used to have a girl who would come in to help her and they wrestled with those things, got them stuck, got them in but not on the rails and generally found the whole process like roping a steer. I don't blame them. I've always had an aluminum door on my back door, and spring and fall I nearly rup- ture myself, swear like a sailor, threaten to smash the thing with an axe, and take an hour just to slide the screen up and let the storm down, or vice versa. I was always expecting to come home and find two women, each clutching an aluminum window, un- conscious on my lawn. Or hanging by one foot from an upper window, screaming for help. |