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é -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, June 2, 1987 One Woman's View by Chris Carlisle I am so glad today is a weekday. It means guilt-free I can plunk ° my body down in front of a keyboard instead of a garden of weeds or a roof that needs shingling or a canoe that needs fibreglassing. Because today's a week day it means all | have to exercise is my brain and not this tired old bod. Every year in April | head outside to start puttering. A little rak- ing maybe; a little messing around in the woodpile. I start the warm up for spring chores, wishing I'd been born a farmer or pioneer. How I'd love to be working in the dirt, outdoors with physical tasks. Wat- ching the results. The fruits of my own labors and all that. But give me a couple of weeks or so of hauling sod from the good to the barren spot, of digging up the septic tank to see why nothing's working, of raking and shoveling the load of stones off the grass on to the driveway and chore of chores, cutting the grass, and I'm thank- ing all the powers that exist that at last it's a weekday and I can relax and go to work with lightweight little words. Never does a hot bath look so good as after a Saturday of plan- ting dahlia bulbs. Never does my trusty old heating pad excite me - 80 as after a Sunday of outdoor repairs. Thank heavens I'm not a farmer, I say. I'd never last. 'The na- tion would starve. But then I tell myself that if I'd been born on a farm, I'd be fit and strong because I'd have had years and years to get into shape. Then again, maybe I'd be totally worn out with arthritic bones by the time I was forty because of all the stress I'd placed on my body. I know I wouldn't have any fingernails to speak of. Despite my "work gloves, they disappeared weeks ago. They snap right off under the gloves; just as painfully as without. ~ My poor hands. All winter, all I have is a callus on the top knuckle my right middle finger from holding a pen. But now, as a result of my work methods-switching from job to job every few minutes so one set of muscles doesn't get too tired-I've got blisters on my blisters, blisters beside my blisters and blisters above and below my blisters. How long until the calluses form? (Hurry, please!) Sometimes I daydream of being strong and fit with a husky, male build. Just think, I could go outside, haul out my ladder and a few buckets of paint and do the entire house in a morning. As things stand now with my-modest frame and weakling spine, just walking around the house looking at all the peeling paint makes me tremble. I'm adding up the hours in my head. I'm so slow, by the time I get the scraping done on just the worst parts, it'll be sup- per time but there'll be no dinner on the table. I'll crawl to the bathtub and soak to relax aching muscles, then I'll be so starved I won't have the strength to get to the fridge. 'Acutally, it'll likely take me all weekend to do the Serdping-on the endangéred parts only. Then there's the paint job. That'll take me all summer. It's a wooden house so the whole thing has to be done. Dare I gamble and just do the parts where the paint has peeled and exposed the bare wood or do I have to do the whole house? Will the _ rot slip in somehow where I didn't give it a fresh coat and the house fall down while I'm in the garden trying to turn the soil so i ean plant 'a few tomato plants? 'And how long until the front shed slides totally backwards off its foundation and crashes to the ground-forever unsalvageable" And then how'll I get rid of that? And if I saw one piece off that stack of logs every day, will I finish the job by next fall? I cut: the seemingly endless front and side lawr ns this weekend but the backyard's crying. This week I'll finish the job but as I said, today's a weekday. If it was Saturday I'd feel oh so guilty sitting here | playing with words. But it's a weekday. I don't have to drag my.body out to the shed unless there's any time left at the end of the day. Believe me, I've got enough writing to do and things to get read to keep me here until midnight--all week long. Thank goodness it's not Friday! Letters Mayor thanks the Challenge To The Editor: On behalf of myself and members of Council, I would like to extend our thanks and congratulations to the residents for their support and in- volvement in the Scugog Township Participaction Challenge. The organizations, clubs, groups, High Schools (special thanks to the Cheerleaders), Public Schools, Im- maculate Conception Public School, business's and individuals that all got involved, we thank you. To the Hospital Administrator, Mr. David Brown and his staff, without your effort in organizing and planning we certainly would not have had the success that the Challenge was. Unfortunately, we did not beat our challengers, The Town of Newcas- tle at 48 percent, The Town of Ajax 47 percent but Scugog was very close at 44.2 percent. It was a-tremendous effort on behalf of the Community and everyone came out a winner in pro- moting the physical and well being of our residents, See you next year in the. Par- ticipaction Challenge. . Learning a To The Editor: The end of the school year is upon me as is the end of my term as a co- Thanks to firefigh ters To The Editor: We would like to express our thanks to the firefighters of Port Perry, Caesarea, Oshawa and Newcastle, and to VanCamp Con- struction for their efforts in fighting the fire on our tree farm, near Sum- merlea Golf Course, on Saturday, May 9. : Yours truly, John Bark, Port Perry. mon sense. Blackstock High School student. (From page 5) I would like to end it on a more pleasant note. I don't know where the following quotation came from or who wrote it. But after you read it I think you'll agree it makes a lot of good com- "There are three things that can give any young man or woman a running start in this competitive world. Good manners, 'good speech"and the habit of reading. The humblest home can assure these, the costliest school cannot." Yesterday' m= Memories 10 YEARS AGO "Wednesday, June 1, 1977 " Mayor Lawrence Malcolm was honoured by the Beavers on Saturday, becoming the youth organizations first honorary member. On Saturday the Royal Bank vacated their old premises on the north side of Queen Street and moved to the corner of Queen and Perry Streets, formerly the LCBO store. A competition sponsored by the local Oddfellow and Rebekah lodges, first prize being the chance to join in the annual United Na- ~ tions Pilgrimage for Youth, was won by Ann Marie Kristensen, a E a Yours truly, D. Jerome Taylor, Mayor Township of Scugog. P.S. Thanks to the Phantom for his/her support and the lovely gift that was delivered to me in the park during the awards presentation (another rock for my collection). career operative education student. The year has passed too quickly. Just now am I beginning to fully unders- tand the trials and tribulations of a journalist's work. The Port Perry Star has given me the chance to learn for myself. Newspaper work is not as easy as some see it. 'Most will never know the frustration when you can't think of a story idea or the mounting anger as you crumple up page after (Turn to page 12) Gazebo music great To The Editor: Three Cheers for the Council, the Rotary Club and Bill Barr for bring- ing band concerts back to our band- - shell at the Lakefront Park. : How fortunate we are to have such a delightful setting to relax and - enjoy some fine toe tapping music. I attended the first in a 10 concert series recently and was transferred in time back to a similar bandshell on the banks to the Thames River in the little town where I grew up. "Children laughing, birds singing, : people swimming in all, it was a tru- ly wonderful evening. It is my sincere hope that more families will come out and enjoy these evenings. Bring your lawn chair or blankets and come down to our park and make for yourselves and your family some wonderful memories to store away for another day. Thank you again to all those who made these concerts possible. Sincerely, "Doreen Kendall, Port Perry. a i Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten VENDORS Last week a flower vendor urged council not to consider a ban on vendors or an/increase in permit fees because he didn't feel his business was hurting / local flower shop owners. "Hogwash!' It is interesting to note the only time flower ven- dors see fit to set up their make-shift shops, is the two busiest times of the year, Mothers Day and Easter. We don't see them around when things are nor- mal, only when they can see there is a quick-buck to be made. : And the flower vendors aren't the only enes. ~ Almost every week, we see vendors selling frozen foods, steaks and lobsters, as they sneak into town with their half-ton trucks loaded down with a freezer full of all kinds of products. And during the summer months, vegetable stands pop up 'all over the place as part time gardeners turn retailer long enough to pick up a few bucks. We find them selling corn, tomatoes. lettuce ~ and you name it in the name of free enterprise. I'm sure there are many consumers who feel that the competition is good for the local merchants, but they fail to realize the rules of the game are con- siderably different for the vendor and retailer. Vendors can sell their products cheaper in most cases, and price is usually the reason they succeed. But it's easy-for a vendor to sell cheap. They have no overhead (heating, lights, telephone etc.), they pay no business tax, they have no employees to pay. no company benefits for staff, and quite often they charge no sales tax, which is against the law. In other words, they should be able to sell products a lot cheaper. In addition to the above, the vendor does not get asked every week for donations to ball, soccer and hockey teams; to church groups; to the Cancer, Heart and numerous other societies. They aren't ask ed for spot prizes for numerous group dances, or to advertise in booklets for many worthwhile organiza- tions. They don't get asked to sponsor a child in a walkathon, a gymathom, a readathon or any of the "other "'thons" around today. In short, most vendors take the money from the community and never put anything back. I'm afraid I can't sympathize with the vendors, It's better to nip this problem in the bud, and if a com- plete ban is impossible, council should at least raise the vendors fee from the meager $100 to so.nething high enough to discourage the practice. JUST FOR THOUGHT In closing this week, I would just like to mention "a couple of things that we should think about! First of all -- what's happening with the old lawn bowling green? The buildings have been removed and the space is now sitting vacant and overgrown. The idea for keeping the land last year, after an - (Turn to page 12)