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HT I HH HH Te HT HH HHI HI HH IIE hai i -- ------ -- Editorial Comments The Future of CHS The message could not have been made plainer. The future of Cartwright High School rests not with the Board of Education, but with the people who live in the former Township of Cartwright. At a meeting last week in Blackstock, at which the CHS Accom- modation Committee made public the report on the school it will be sending to the Durham Board later this month, it became abundant- ly clear that if the long term future of the school is to be guaranteed, the enrolment must not be allowed to decline. And as one speaker put it bluntly at the meeting last week, the parents may have to play a more forceful role in convincing their children to attend the school. There is no question that CHS will remain open for the next five years: The Accommodation Committee is making a strong recom- mendation to the Board this month that CHS will remain open. And the committee is also asking that CHS not be the subject of a further study until required by the Board policy. But there is a trend developing at the school which could have dangerous implications for the future. There are presently just 14 ~ students in grade nine at CHS, 17 inlgrade ten. The meeting was told last week that of those 14 grade nine students, 11 came from the grade 8 clasg at Cartwright Public, out of a graduating class of 60 stude at that means is that four out of five students finishing grate 8 last spring decided to attend a high school other than CHS. There are, of course, a lot of reasons why a student would decide not to attend CHS. The desire for a technical post-secondary educa- tion is probably the main one. Some students may simply want to go to school in an 'urban setting." Still others may have the misconception that because a school is bigger, it's automatically bet- ter. In the case of CHS that simply is not true. The academic standards, the quality of education offered at CHS are second to none. In fact, based on the record CHS grads achieve in post-secondary institutions, the quality of education at CHS is ex- ~ tremely high. 'However, the fact remains that in the last couple of years at least, new students are not flocking through the doors of the school in suf- ficient numbers. There are 108 students attending classes at the school this year. One need not be a math whiz to figure out what the population will be in five years if grade nine enrolments continue at 14 students. A declining enrolment at any school becomes a vicious circle. 'As the numbers drop, the cost per pupil goes up; the number of teachers goes down, the number of programs that can be offered also-. goes down and this in turn will send the enrolment on a downward spiral. At the meeting last week, attended by about 75 parents and students, area superintendent Bill Fairburn referred to CHS as a *'uni- que and beautiful place.' The school has been a focal point in the community for many years. It has turned out grads who have gone on to distinguish themselves in many fields and walks of life. The future of the school over the long term is clearly in the hands of the Cartwright community; the people who live in Blackstock, Nestleton, Caesarea, the smaller hamlets and the rural areas of old Cartwright Township. Use it or lose it. The people of Cartwright have a job to do. They must convince their sons and daughters to enrol at CHS. We hope sincerely that they are successful in this. WANNA BE MY VALENTINE can. PLATTEN Ps 8637 (= CNA Pe , 4 \ PORT PLOEY STAR CO LIMNTID DVIQUIIN STIL! #0 $0190 I ! PORT PLAY ONTADO LO8 WO (990) 985 138) J. PETER HVIDSTEN Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association' and*Ontario Community Newspaper Association n r uni Ww 1a Advertising Manager Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co Ltd , Port Perry, Ontario J.B. MCCLELLAND Editor Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa. and for cash CATHY ROBB payment of postage in cash News & Features Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 LIS iP oo Vey en 0% s a ol?tay ays Oy Subscription Rate: In Canada $15.00 per year. Elsewhere $45.00 per year. Single Copy 35° ©COPYRIGHT -- All layout and composition of advertisements produced by the adver tising department of the Port Perry Star Company Limited are protected under copyright and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher Chatterbox by Cathy Robb SAVING LIVES Neil Bradley made a terrific point at last Wednesday' 8 SADD meeting. The Durham Region Police Constable, out of uniform, made a brief appearance before the overflowing Port Perry High School gymnasium Rusfenice to drive home the importance of buckl- up. As a policeman, he has been to the scene of too many traffic fatalities and has discovered a number of common denominators in highway deaths. Alcohol, he pointed out, is a contributing fac- tor in the majority of cases. "You don't even have to be impaired," he - said. "All you have to do is have one drink to lose part of your control. One drink is all it takes to slow you down." And in the majority of traffic deaths in the Scugog area recently, almost all reports have described single vehicle accidents, where only one car has rolled over, slid into a ditch or hit another object. Speed has been another common denominator. Almost invariably, a car loses con- trol that is going too fast. But all these things don't necessarily lead up to a fatality. In many cases, a drunk driver who is going too fast along a deserted road and loses control, can still survive if he or she is wearing a seat belt. In January 1978, the government introduced legislation that made seat belts mandatory, along with $53 tickets for those people who didn't comply. As Constable Bradley said, the public was outraged at "this infringement of human rights." As years passed and the law became a fact of life, many people grew to accept the seat belt. But there are those who still refuse to buckle up as a matter of principle. It's been proven time and time again that seat belts save lives. Sure, everyone has their own story about how they or a loved one escaped cer- tain death because they weren't wearing a seat belt, but in the majority of cases, seat belts work. If the car rolls over, is hit head-on or from behind, the belts keep passengers from hitting the windshield or other parts of the car at the force of a rocket. The) alse keep passengers from fly- ing out the window or an open door. Granted, they m ight not work so well if the car in question is hit from the side, but then again, if you're hit from the side you don't stand much of a chance either way. "Sure, seat belts aren't perfect, but they do work most of the time," Constable Bradley said. But the most telling point in the seat belt's favour came when he said this: | "'A majority of the fatalities at this high school could have been prevented if the victims had been wearing seat belts." Enough said. THE VALLEY SO LOW Speaking of seat belts, you sure do need a heavy duty belt if you ever travel along Water Street. That dip in the road just north of Crandell's is enough to take the front end off a bulldozer, for pete's sake. The first time I took my car over that Ididn't know it was there -- but I became aware of it right away, like super quick, as soon as the front bumper took a nose dive much like a first time parachutist off a 'jet plane. I thought for a minute my car was going to do a headstand. Now, however, I know better, and slow down to a slug' Ss pace every time I approach it. When we had the last snowstorm, it wasn't too bad because the snow sort of filled it up to a reasonable level but I swear the dip became even dippier at the first sign of thaw. Is the township going to fix it? Or what? Is it here for a reason, sort of like built-in speed bumps My actor. the illustrious John B. whose distorted mug shot has been appearing over this space recently, says the section of road was built over a saw mill, where the saw millers used to dump all kinds of saw dust. (Makes sense). Underneath about 10 feet of dirt, he says, lies all this sawdust ---- which sinks deeper and deeper each year. This, combined with the underground water courtesy of Lake Scugog, is why Water Street sinks lower and lower, dippier and dippier (thus its name, I suppose). So, I guess it's not really the township's fault. I hear they' re out there every year fixing the darn street up -- and every year it sinks right back down again. Maybe Port Perry should build a bridge over the whole mess, or close down the street entire- ly, let it dip as much as it wants, and turn it into a rollercoaster. The town could charge admission and everything. Just think of all those tourist dollars rolling in (Rolling, get it?) In the meantime, if you find yourself ap- (Turn to page 6) OL