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Yesterday's Memories 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, February 11, 1926 : At a special meeting held by council, Mr. George Raines was appointed Assessor with a salary of $150.00. re, = Miss Marguerite Jackson is taking a position as nurse in the Sick Children's Hospital, Toronto. Co "Annual appointments made by County Council was A.W. Jackson was appointed a member of the Board of Auditors, and Mr. George McMillan of Reach as a County Volunteer. | 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, February 8, 1951 Mr. Grant Christie and son Fred of Manchester attended the Pony Breeder's meeting in Toronto. Mr. Don Anderson, an employee of Beare Motors, is taking a three-day service course on car maintenance at the Chrysler Cor- poration in Toronto. | Mr. and Mrs. Herb Hooey have moved into their new house in Blackstock. Mr. Ernest McLean of Blackstock received his Radio Navigators Wings and is now stationed in Saskatoon. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, February 9, 1961 A meeting was held in the Municipal office to form a Town Band Association. Mr. Garry Tummonds, tor of the movement was elected President, with John Orde as Vice President, Mr. Wentworth - Watson was installed as treasurer and Mr. Frank Godley as secretary. Blue Ray Chapter, order of the Eastern Star catered to 150 guests at a "Bobbie Burns" supper in the Masonic Temple. The Port Perry Chamber of Commerce honoured the Port Perry Baseball Club, 0.A.S.A. All-Ontario Champions at a presentation din- ner at Flamingo Restaurant. J Port Perry Midgets eliminated when they were beaten by the Uxbridge Midgets by a score of 6 to 4. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, February 10, 1966 Seven Port Perry Guides enjoyed a winter camping weekend. It was a cold bright winter weekend but all enjoyed the cooking out, etc. that goes with this type of Guide training. Those taking part were Lynne MacGregor, Sharon Sweetman, Beverley Carnegie, Joanne Martyn, Karena and June Murray and Karen Carnegie. In the March of Dimes Campaign over $500.00 was collected in Port Perry when some sixty women did a house to house canvass. There is a great concern among local veterinarians and physi- cians in the area in regard to a recent outbreak of rabies in Reach and Scugog Townships. Port Perry Legion presented new jackets to the members of Port _ Perry Squirts, Baseball team who won the All-Ontario Squirt Cham- pionship in the summer of 1965. . Janet D'Altroy and David Porter were the winners of the Novice Dance Champions in the Central Ontario Sectional Championships held at Varsity Arena. 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, February 11, 1976 Council is considering the fire departments request for a $9,000.00 electronic signalling device which would replace the noisy fire siren. The system has a range of between 12 to 20 miles and would be used to summon firemen to the hall. y Jack Lee, of the Royal Canadian Legion, presented a cheque for $1,100 to Howard Hall, building chairman of the new community arena. oo Dorene Ashbridge, Shirley Elliott, Helen Parish and Grace Hunter were the winners of the first annual ladies open Flamingo PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, February 11, 1986 -- § Letters Special salute to dedicated staff Dear Sir: During last week's closure of the Hospital, people other than the pa- tients and staff at the Hospital, w affected. . X "The Hospital Kitchen was unable to supply meals for two of our Meals on Wheels routes. The Community Nursing Home staff took care of the extra meals for a week and deserve our special thanks for the extra Hospital and the Nursing Home for work involved. the valuable contribution they make Between Community Nursing in assisting people to remain at Home and the Hospital hot, noon home as long as possible. meals are provided three days a week for our volunteer drivers to Sincerely, deliver to 26 residents of Port Perry, Elizabeth Fulford, Prince: Albert, Scugog Island and Administro tor the Blackstock and Nestleton area. Coordinator, We salute the staff at both the Scugog Community Care. Safety a problem in Greenbank Dear Sir: Upon the advice of our councillor, Mrs. Christie, and others that at- tended the general meeting at Greenbank Community Hall, Fri- day, February 7, I have written the following: The greatest offenders on the road seem to be motorists coming from the north. Please for safety of our children and teensdgers, take heed of the signs. Which brings me to another problem -- school buses from Port Perry. High School and R.H. Cornish Public School. When our young people get off of these buses, they are very care-free about "crossing. Please, parents, for their sake, as well as the motorists, tell them again "don't be in such a hurry to get across," and not to play the game of dare in the middle of the road when cars are approaching. During the past few months there has been two accidents at the crosswalk. One accident was serious enough to necessitate the calling of 0.P.P. The reason for this as I see it is that the motorists do not heed to the traffic rules. Maybe they do not know the rules or they are in too much of a hurry to get to their destination. oo Greenbank (Highway 12) is well marked. The only other solutions 2. Stop lights operated morning and night when children are crossing. No one has been hurt in our area -- "Let's keep it that way -- 'Safe. that I'know are: 1. Flashing light on Highway 12 - Ellie Speck, going north. Greenbank, Ont. 1 Letters to the Editor ... our policy It has always been the policy of this newspaper to encourage our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column. Our readers have a right to freely express their opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we fcel that a lively letters column helps make a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that a letter writer sign his or her name. On rare occasions, we will agree to with-hold publication of a letter writer's name, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. : Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous letter to the editor. : ~ While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must continue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. : aa at (== i ry Poor Fone NO JOYRIDE = Pastries bonspiel. by George Crenshaw BELVEDERE I usually commute to the city by car. I guess I'm an individualist. My personal freedom is worth more to me than the few dollars I might save by taking the bus. : But last week I had to take the bus. And I haven't recovered from the experience yet. I still sit down at the typewriter, my whole body shak- ing like a pogo stick. I had expected the bus to look like a Voyageur. Big, trustworthy. When I saw the little ol' school bus coming around the corner, I didn't even pay attention to it. Until everybody waiting at the bus stop got on it. What's this? Grown people riding. a school bus? Because of my hesitation, I had missed all the good seats. The good seats, as I am now told are in the front of the bus. I got what was left over. The seat right on top of the rear axle. If you can call it a seat. As I kept sliding forward on it, I wondered if it had been put on backwards. As I wore holes into my trousers, scraping my knees against the steel barrier in front of me, I began to doubt the wisdom of my decision to take this trip. But everybody around me seemed happy. People were chatting. Some had already off, before we even got out of town. Perhaps I'd set- tle down if I got involved in the book I had brought along. Now there was an advantage. I have yet to learn how to enjoy reading while driving a car. Perhaps I could finish this chapter that I had made so little progress with over the past few weeks. Three quarters of an hour of uninterrupted reading time would almost be worth the discomfort. But when I got to the second sentence, the driver turned the lights off on the bus. We had reached the open highway. No more reading, and it wouldn't get light outside for half an hour or so. I put my book away and tried to sleep.. Have you ever tried to sleep on a midway ride? For six bucks I was getting the thrill of a lifetime; 45 minutes of vertical shakeup that left my brain in a complete muddle. My intestines bounced against my spleen. My kidneys sent out emergency signals. And I lost a least an inch in height because my vertebrae kept knocking together, crushing what was left of my disks. My teeth chattered, and it was not from the cold. I tried to get up to ask the driver if there was a first aid post where he could stop and let me out. But I never did get my legs extracted from the vice in which they were held. The amazing thing is that I actually dozed off during this torture. I was probably hallucinating. In my dream -- or whatever it was ---- I found myself confronted by some Iroquois braves who kept talking to me in a strange tongue. I said: "I'm not a missionary, and I don't want to become a martyr!" : Finally one of the warriors said something in English. 'Wake up, Sir." It was the driver. We had arrived in the city. Downtown, not where I wanted to get off. The driver helped me to get to my feet, and I crawled to the exit. I found a city bus that took me to my destination. I was a pleasure standing in the aisle, stretching my wounded limbs. How do you folks do it? Every weekday you get into that vehicle twice. My laundry gets treated more gently in my washer and dryer. Have they managed to break your spirit as well as your bones? Why do you take it? Why don't you ask for comfortable seats? Or new springs? Or reading lights? ' I won't be complaining about the high cost of gasoline for a while. Or the ridiculous cost of park- ing. I'll take all that, and I'll enjoy the decadence and comfort of my cozy little car. You can have the commuter bus.