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PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, June 16, 1987 -- § Viewpoint by John B. McClelland SCHOOL'S ouT There is an air of excitement in our household these days. I first noticed it back about the first of the month. My three kids are counting down the days waiting in anticipation for that special moment that arrives but once each year. School's out. Summer holidays are here. Two glorious months to laze away the days without homework, projects, exams, report cards. June has always been a special month for kids. I know it was for me and from the way my own are ac- ting these days, things haven't changed much. Listening to them chatter away about what they're going to do all summer when that *'big day" finally ar- rives, I couldn't help but think back a few years (0.K_, more than a few years) to my own days in elementary school as June slowly ticked away. The school I attended was typical post-war style, a momument of early 50's institutional architecture in Ontario. By today's standards it was a pretty drab place. The halls had hardwood floors and every once in a while during the winter months, some kid in sock feet would pick up a dandy splinter in the foot. The classrooms were large high-ceilinged places with bulb lights which hung from chains. Each room had two cloakrooms at the back, one for the boys and one for the girls. It was strictly '"'verbotten" for a boy to enter the girls' cloakroom. I don't think they build I suppose. . The cloakrooms were where we hung up our coats, stowed our winter boots, stashed the hockey sticks, baseball bats and gloves and just about anything else that wouldn't fit in the desks. I recall the cloakrooms having a peculiar odour to them, a kind of combination damp woolen socks, stale sandwiches and rubber boots. It was not an unpleasant odour, but it pervaded the cloakrooms the first week of school and hung in there til the end of June. The cloakrooms could be a pretty wild place when 15 or 20 boys went piling in there after recess to get out of their coats and boots. There was always a lot of hooting and hollering, pushing and shoving and on more than one occasion, scuffles that started in the school yard were finished in the cloakrooms. It was as if that room was the private tixf of the students. The cloakroom was also the place where trouble-makers would be banished for an afternoon. It was pretty lone- ly back there staring at the boots and coats. . Enough about cloakrooms. All the classrooms in our school had one highly redeeming feature for the students. The windows. They were big, stretching right to the ceiling, unlike the tiny windows that are a feature of today's modern classroom. Big windows, of course, made for great day- dreaming. You could actually see the outside world. The River, and this was both good and bad in the month of June. It was good to be able to look out those big win- dows and see the blue river, the green trees, the hills on the far side of the river, the blue sky. It was bad because the view also included the public beach in the distance and as June hit the mid-point we could actual- ly see people at the beach. That made the hours and the days drag even longer. The school year lasted right te the final day in June. The high school was just across the way from our school and during the last week in June, the high school students wrote exams. When they were not writing exams, they were sup posed to be home studying. But a lot of them took their books to the beach and to get there, they had to pass right by the windows of the senior elementary classes. Sitting in a stuffy grade eight classroom, the air hot and heavy, the teacher still trying to cram more tid-bits of knowledge into the heads of 35 bored students. I will never forget the sight of those high school students on their way to the beach. They knew we were in there and they would wave their towels at us as they laughed in the bright June sunlight. There was nothing we could do but look up at the clock and then at the date on the blackboard, close our eyes and wish that we were there. Of course the next year when we were in high school, we took absolute delight in doing the same thing to the grade eight class, knowing all too well how they felt at the sight of us on our way to the beach. The last few days in the school year seemed to take forever. The school, with its flat-top roof coated in asphalt would heat up like a pressure cooker. There were long line-ups at the water fountain. To this day I cansee my grade eight teacher, a stern man who never cloakrooms in schools these days, and for good reason, senior classrooms in our old school faced the Ottawa (Tumto page 6) Yesterday's Memories 70 YEARS AGO A Wednesday, June 13, 1917 'The Meharry property on Queen Street has been purchased by Mrs. McMullen of Toronto. The Russel Palmer property near the yellow school has been sold to Mrs. May of Toronto. Mr. Stanley Disney, formerly in business here, has entered into partnership with his brother, Mr. W.F. Disney, Whitby. They will conduct an undertaking parlour. 45 YEARS AGO _ Thursday, June 11, 1942 : Mrs. Francis White, Manchester, 'attended the graduation ceremony in Toronto, when the Degree of Pedagogy was conferred on her son, Lloyd White, B.A. A.M: 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 12, 1952 At the Reach Council meeting, Mrs. W.F. Crosier was appointed Relief Officer, her duties to commence June 1. Fire destroyed Brunton's Hatchery in the early hours of the mor- ning. The prompt action of Port Perry fire department saved a large barn standing a short distance away. Miss Joan Bentley left Montreal to spend the summer with L- Sea. David Bentley and Mrs. Bentley, Nova Scotia. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 15, 1957 Fire brigades from all centres in this area will unite in a train- ing exercise at the water front in Port Perry. Mr. and Mrs. Durham have moved back to the Robert's farm in Prospect after an absence of eight years. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 15, 1967 The sale of three old schools and a vacant lot in Reach Township netted $10,550. Ted Jackson and Ted Spencely, conducted the sell- ing of the Utica, Manchester and Prospect schools and the vacant lot at Chalk Lake. Mr. and Mrs. Clarente Fralick received nearly two hundred guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Fralick on the occasion of their 60th Wedding Anniversary. Congratulations to Carol Ann Morrow, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Morrow, who received her Bachelor of Arts Degree at Huron College, University of Western Ontario, June 7, 1967. Don Bronson of Port Perry had a golfer's dream come true when he sunk a 'hole-in-one' at the Sunny Brae Golf course, Prince Albert, last Sunday. 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, June 15, 1977 Scugog Township Council agreed Monday night to investigate the possibility of taking part in the Ontario Home Renewal Program, after listening to arguments from several citizens. Paul Kerry of R.R.1, Port Perry was presented with the Chief Scout award at a ceremony June 4th in Oshawa. Letters To The Editor: - In reply to Peter Fvidster' s arti- cle of June 9, 1987 Handicapped Peo- ple, where to draw the line. I have been acquainted with a very intelligent blind man for several years, and for what I know of his life, it appears to me that - society draws the line at in- dependence, self reliant employ- ment & simple human dignity. = . The man-I"m speaking about has "lived in Port Perry most of his life & I believe he is well known to the Community. Although he has pro} ven himself in several jobs as a competent worker, he has now been unemployed for: almost one year. Canada Employment claims they do not have the resources to assist blind people in finding jobs. He was promised a meeting with an advisor to the Minister of Employment 6 4 months ago, when he expressed the view that Canada Employment's at- titude toward blind people was discriminating, but even though the minister has been reminded of this Get the bicycles off walks To The Editor: It is getting to the point where it is no longer safe for one to walk down the sidewalks in Port Perry because of bicycles all over the place. I had the misfortune to fall over one as I was coming out of the Becker's Store on Queen Street. The fall broke my glasses and banged up the side of my face. Something should be done before a more serious mishap takes place. If people don't know how to use their bikes, they should not be allowed to ride them. Yours truly, Ethel Irvine, Port Perry. £ promise by our local member of Parliament, no action has been taken. His unemployment benefits ran out two months ago. When he at- - tempted to re-apply for a blind pen- sion which he gave up 10 years ago because he wanted to work, he was told he would have to prove he was blind, even though his eye condition is incurable & the government had documents to prove this. He wonders why Physically . Challenged persons who want to work are penalized like this & he has certainly earned the right to ask this question. Four years agothe obtain- Blind man deserves a chance ed a job with a real estate company & applied to the Government fora * talking computer so that he could do his work. When the equipment wasn't supplied, the company had to fire him. A letter saying he owned the equipment which they have never supplied - they refused to honour their letter. This man now receives wellare which barely covers his rent. He has to beg churches for food. I say chur- ches advisedly, because his own ° church refused to help him, even though he has done active volunteer work for it. (Turn to page 6) Teen drinking meeting To The Edifor: As a regular Star reader, I have been following with interest the let- ters from concerned parents and teenagers about the prevalance of drinking while under age in Port Perry. S.ADD. has done a great job of focussing the community's attention on the hazards of drinking and driv- ing. Maybe now is the time to focus on teen drinking. As a health care professional dedicated to wellness promotion, | am very concerned about many issues in this, problem. Factors which may contribute to drinking by young people -include: peer pressure; lack of self-esteem: moral values confusion; availabili- ty of alcohol; lack of knowledge : adult role models; media promotion of lifestyles associated with alcohol: lack of alternative lifestyle activities. I plan to attend the meeting on June 18 at the Anglican Church Hall at 8:00 p.m. This will be an oppor- tunity to meet and discuss the issues and mobilize resources for educating the community about the hazards of drinking illegally. A Concerned Professional ter to the editor. Letters to the Editor our policy It has always been the policy of this newpspaper 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 feel that a lively letters col- umn 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 let- While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must con- tinue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer.