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LC hol ic ge oe ; xi i I ci FT - di ------ eeu ae iii wg ag ™ £8 faa - Raa a a Tee.-.:- . - PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, September 23, 1986 -- § Viewpoint . ..- McClelland HOW ABOUT A RINK? One of the joys of winter in the small town where I grew up was the number of open-air rinks. _ Kids from every neighbourhood in town used those rinks from freeze-up in late fall to spring thaw in late 'March. There was one in every park in.town. A patch of ice where kids would skate and play shin- ny after school and on the weekends. Some of the fondest memories of my youth are of day-long shinny games on a blustery Saturday when a bunch of kids would pick teams early in the morning, set up boots as goal-posts and play until the pale winter sun disappeared behind a row of scruffy pine trees. As I recall, some of the open-air rinks were designated for "skating only, no hockey sticks," and for the most part, the kids adhered to the rules. One evening recently while out for a stroll, I stop- ped on the sidewalk beside the former lawn bowling green on Queen Street and thought to myself that it would make the perfect place for an open-air skating rink this winter. The old lawn bowling green is certainly large enough, it's flat, and the porch in front of the old clubhouse would make an ideal place to put the skates on. And I don't think it would take too much effort to run a string of lights for night skating. The old lawn bowling green (across from the IGA store) is owned by Scugog Township. Since the lawn bowlers moved to their new facility, the place has been sitting idle and vacant. In fact, it looks a little neglected and seedy. I don't know how much effort would be involved in the snow cleared, but surely it would not be a major project. Maybe one of the service clubs in the community would take this on as a winter project. - I'm certain that an open air skating rink there would get a lot of use over the winter months, from both youngsters and adults. Heck, I'd even be more than will- ing to bring the snow shovel and help keep the place cleared off. Anyway, it's an idea that somebody in Port Perry should pursue for this winter. It's a shame to see such a nice little piece of property just sitting there without any use by the public. On thinking more about this little idea, I've come to the conclusion, it won't do any good just to talk about it. I'd be willing to set up a committee of citizens to ac- tively pursue the idea: find out what's involved and what it would take exactly to get a skating area there this winter. If anybody out there would care to lend assistance to this project, give me a call any day at the Port Perry Star office. The only real draw-back I can see is the see-saw weather during the winter months in this part of On- tario. A ten day cold snap is great for making ice on an outdoor rink, but the efforts can be wiped out with one 48-hour thaw. I know, because two years ago, I built a backyard rink and it was so frustrating to see it turn into a swimming pool in the middle of January when the merc climbed above freezing. But that's the chance. As I said before, I'm darn cer- tain young people and adults would get a lot of enjoy- ment out of rink on the old bowling green. Let's give it A few weeks ago, a 13-year old American school- girl made national headlines when she walked into a police station to tll the cops that her parents were il- legal drug users. The police went to the girls home (when the parents were away), found a small amount of drugs and then arrested the parents. . Hollywood, as might be expected in this day and age, was immediately interested in the story and the young girl was beseiged with offers for the rights to her tale. She apparently turned them down, and apparent- ly all the publicity surrounding this case has caused her parents "to see the light." They say they've given up drugs forever. This is a disturbing case. The youngster was hail- ed by some as a hero. 0.K., the use of illegal drugs is a major social problem in Canada, the United States and Europe. But children snitching on their parents? Surely that's going too far. This may be an isolated case, but I doubt it. Incidents like this, with all the surrounding publicity, have a way of snow-balling along. And now that Reagan and Mulroney have official- ly declared "war on drugs" I would expect to see more cases similar to this one. As I said, the drug problem is one of major propor- tions, but I would hate to see society try to combat it by turning our kids into snitchers. Some pretty despicable regimes have propped themselves up by encouraging the citizenry to snitch on each other: kids, parents, brothers, sisters, neighbours, (Tum to page 6) preparing the site for skating, flooding it and keeping a try. Yesterday's Memories 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, Sept. 23, 1926 : The oldest voter in Prince Albert to cast a vote on last Tuesda was Mrs. D.L. Williams, who was in her 95th year. Mr. Keith McMillan has returned home to Port Perry after spen- ding some months at mission work for the United Church in Manitoulin Island. He will resume his studies at Victoria Colleg shortly. : Miss Hazel Ackney has gone to Peterboro from Epsom to attend - Normal School. : 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, Sept. 20, 1951 Rev. R.H. Wylie, minister of Wesley United Church, Pembroke 'has acepted an invitation to the pulpit of the United Church at Port Perry. Congratulations to Kae Philip, Utica, who won the special school ~ prize for girls at the Port Perry Fair - a fountain pen. Miss Barbara Hooey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Keith Hooey, is now attending business college in Oshawa. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, Sept. 21, 1961 Dr. David D. Palmer of Davenport, Iowa, grandson of Daniel David Palmer, founder of the chiropractic profession, visited his grandfather's birthplace in Port Perry on Sunday, September 17th. W. Earl Martyn, Port Perry, paid $1,000 for six-year-old herd sire, Oyler Farm Admin Achilles, at the Dispersal Sale of the purebred Holstein herd of Edward Oyler. The forty-six head sold for a total of $17,990. Mrs. George Wolfe, Blackstock, spent the weekend at Upper Canada Village with the Toronto Women's Press Club. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, Sept. 22, 1966 Congratulations to Lorna Wright of Blackstock who was award- ed a scholarship providing her with free tuition for four years at Waterloo Lutheran University. Mr. Roy Leask and son John, Greenbank, won runner-up for Premier Breeder and Exhibitor at Port Perry Fair, Elmcroft Farms taking the Award. The tender of Arch Construction, Toronto for the amount of $147,875.46 in regard to the six-room addition at the school was ac- cepted subject to approval of the Ontario Municipal Board. 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, September 22, 1976 Port Perry High School students took part in the Great Trek West, a 10.5 mile walkathon organized to raise money to help the stu- dent council project fund overcome a $700 deficit last year. The walkathon raised approximately $2,500. Five local people, Richard Drew, Dr. M.B. Dymond, Cliff Crowell, Jerry Jackman, and Howard Hall, are all undecided on the issue of running for council. A face-lift for downtown Port Perry is currently in the stage of establishing costs. Letters Congratulations on retirement Dear Sir: It is with pleasure on behalf of my family to extend congratulations to Dr. Austin Bathie on his retirement. Dr. Bathie, during his years of practice in Port Perry, has brought relief and comfort to many who suf- fered immobalizing discomfort. It seems that every member of my family had required his services from time to time. The winter of 1965 while doing the morning chores, I became seized up Willow at the library Conrad Biernacki, chairman of the Toronto chapter of the "Willow Society' will be coming to the Scugog Memorial Public Library in October to present a slide/lecture on the delights and dilemmas of collec- ting, especially Blue Willow Pattern China. The Willow Pattern was designed by Josiah Spode in the early 19th century and it was an English inter- pretation of hand-painted blue and white Chinese export porcelain. By 1830 there were over 200 manufac- tures of Willow ware. To this day no other pattern has been copied so frequently. The Willow Society, founded in 1978, is an international group of Willow Pattern china collectors and enthusiasts whose interests are diverse. They discover and promote the merits of early English ceramic patterns, pottery and porcelain. Col- lecting and preserving these "anti- ques" has become more than just a hobby to members of The Willow Society. See 'Coming Events" for specific details of this very special program or phone the Scugog Memorial Public Library, 985-7686. with pain, with difficulty I made my way to the house. Thinking a days rest would solve my problem; it became worse. With several at- temps to regain a vertical position, I became a victim on the floor. With help of some friends I was placed on the springs of a single bed, then placed in a stationwagon and driven to Dr. Bathie's office. Unable to get the so called stretcher in his office, I was taken to his garage where he preceeded with his treatment. Within a half hour I was, with some help, able to walk into his office where 1 experienced further treatments which enabled me to sit up in the car to come home. The next day it was chores as usual. I did require two or three more treatments. This was his first ex- perience of this nature. : - 1 am sure the community will join with me and my family to wish him good health in his retiring years. His wit and good humour will be missed by his friends and patients. Yours truly, Bert Guthrie, Whitby. Very disturbing Dear Sir: I am not a member of Port Perry Fair Board. I am not a resident of Port Perry. I am a tax paying resi- dent of Durham Region. It is very disturbing to me to hear of the discord concerning the Fair Board and the Durham Board of Education. Am I naive or "not with it?" It has been my understanding that you hold a meeting -- make a motion -- pass the motion or not and abide by the decision. Why then, the upset and hasseling from others involved? Letters to the Editor ... our policy My tax dollars have built a school at Raglan -- it is now boarded up. Why not build a few more rooms and a gymnasium? The property is own- ed by the Board of Education -- has a large lot -- off the busy highway and easy access for buses. Our children in Columbus have to be bussed -- why not others? Wondering why all the upset Willie Nesbitt Columbus, Ontario It has always been the policy of this newspaper to encourage our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column. Our redders have a right to freely express their opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we feel 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: