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Eating Bee omidttiatte, AIL daa. ofl i an ae oR ii, ogi, Secu gio dies un 6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, June 16, 1987 ~ terrible, but we don't really think about it and understand fully One Woman's View by Chris Carlisle There's a lot to be said for being a woman Not that I've ever doubted what | wanted to be, but there are times when I'm extremely grateful to be wearing skirts instead of pants This week it hit home again. | went to see Platoon which is one of the most awful movies I've ever seen in my life. Not awful, as in .. it wasn't worth the price of admission, but as in horrifying, terrible and spine-tingling Ard all through it, I kept saying to myself how glad I am to be a woman. | figured Platoon would be just another war movie--stupid "Rambo-style where some guy or guys go out and blow a lot of peo- ple apart in totally unjustified, unbelievable situations. i.e, hero destroys a'hundred men, a few tanks, a few headquarters, camps and helicopters while he manages to magically dodge bullets and missiles oo Seeing as I'd heard how great Platoon was, I went to see for myself Just thinking about what | saw makes me nervous and tense. Platoon is about Vietnam and a platoon of American soldiérs Tosay it wasn't pleasant is like saying Jim and Tammy Bakker are having a bad day. The tension never lets up for one second which 1s what it must have been like for those poor guys who fought It was horrible. If combat wasnt raging, the threat constantly hung all around. Every second, death was 'present. These guys didn't know from one second to the next when they'd be hit. They had no idea if they'd make it to the next day, never mind get out. I happen'to be a horror fan because | like a good scare. But | know 1t's not real so it doesn't really matter. But this looked real and that's what made it all the more terrifying. I kept praying it would hurry up and end because I couldn't stand the tension. Ard if | couldn't stand watching it, what must it have been like for the guys who were there" Of course, we all know war is horrible, but war is something far off and distant. We don't really sit down and empathize with the soldiers going off to fight. We know there's killing and we nowy it's 'hat these guys are going through. Seeing All Quiet On the Western Front had the same chilling ef- fect on me as Platoon. So did reading The Naked and the Dead. After seeing World War I'and Il movies, and now Platoon, one wonders : how we can still wage war. | guess we forget as the years roll by. But all that aside, 1 selfishly sat there and gave thanks that I was a woman because it meant I'd never have to go through what those guys did Do women really want equa) rights? Do we really want to off "and fight? ? We should be glad we don't have te go into that Hell. (I'll take dishpan hands any day ) Not that I think men should have to fight And I can't believe that anyone really wants to be in a situation like V ietnam. even though they might sign up. Co. We've got things backwards. It's not the women who have been discriminated against by being kept out'oL.combat. It's the men w ho have been forced to fight. Just the other day | was telling a 12-year-old about the oppor- tunities of a areer in the Canadian Army. Training in a skill, good pay. good benefits, cheap housing, retirement.in the 40's age-range so you can pursue another career with a full pension or just sit back and relax I said then that it was fine as long as there was no war Unfortunafely. if there's a war. vou can't decide it's a nice time for a sabbatical 'After watching Platoon, I'd distaiee myself as far as possible from the Army. Navy ar Air Force And any women who want com- | bat should think twice They don't know how lucky they ve been, be- ing excluded ¢ Letters Garbage problem getting bigger To The Editor: It is very disturbing to hear about the state of Durham Region with regard to garbage disposal. Our pre- sent dump rights are in a countdown situation. Durham Region council seem to be doing nothing to solve the problem. Well, it won't go away. We formed a Region that was to benefit the whole area and there have been Separate canoe class To The Editor: After reading this week's Port Perry Star, | was rather surprised that the Men's Resident class in the Nonquon Canoe Race was won by a mixed couple. I certainly do not agree with this. On occasion, a female will paddle in a Men's Open class, but certain- ly should not in the Mens' Resident class. 'Resident' means two resi- dent males: "mixed" means a male and female paddler; quite simple actually. What happens if ten couples decide to go in the Men's Resident Class? If you allow it, you'll have one mixed-up mess. So, :get your heads together Race com- ~ mittee and separate the men's class from the mixed class. | Happy Paddling Sincerely, Rudi Jammer Scugog Township Viewpoint (From page 5) smiled, standing at the front of the class in a grey suit. It might have been 90 degrees in that room but he never removed his suit jacket-and there were dark stains of perspiration under his arms. I wonder why he never took his suit coat off or loosened his tie in the stifling heat. He was, I guess, from the "old school" and } "teachers just didn't teach in their shirt sleeves. The school day lasted til 4:00 p.m. sharp, but on the final day of the year, we got a bit of a break. The dismissal bell would ring at 3:30. The teacher would stand in the door as we filed out for the last time, wish us a good summer and hand out the report cards. The joy of the last day of school was always tainted with showing: ii, to our parents? On the final day, just a few minutes before dismissal, the school principal paid a visit to the grade eight class. He too never removed his suit coat, despite the heat. He spoke to us about moy- ing on to high school, about high school would bring new freedoms and new obligations. I recall him being a dour man who had little contact with the students in that school, éxcept when they were yanked into his office for some transgression. .On that final day, he said his few words, wished us good luck in high school, and then he was gone, presumably back to his office. The final day of school was oné of excitement, relief. a release of the tensions that had built over the previous couple of weeks. "We would hoot and holler in the school yard for a few minutes, toss notebooks in the air. sing a few lines of that age- old ditty "'no more pencils, no more books ...... "" and then head for home. i Lalways felt the last day of school was similar to Christmas for a kid. You wait so long for it to arrive. You can hardly stand the excitement that builds. Suddenly it comes, it's over and you can't believe you feel a little let-down that it all happened so fast. There was nothing quite like it when I was a kid. And I suspect that hasn't changed much in the last few years. dread of what might be in that report card. Did one dare break' the seal on the brown envelope and take a peek inside before a lot of benefits, but the cost to the taxpayer has been very high, while the garbage problem is still with us and it is a lot bigger now. The coun- cil is obsessed with the problem of where to build a new multi-million dollar headquarters and what to do with the old one. The new one will be more efficient if located all in one area, so if there is a saving, will our taxes go down? My thoughts are why do we have to have a headquarters in the mid- dle of a city, there is lots of room in Durham Region. The garbage pro- blem is far more serious and will have to be solved. Diiring the war, I noticed a lot of communities in England and Europe had built their centres out of the town, not unlike "our present headquarters. We should find a site and build a gar- bagesincinerator which seems to be the best permanent way to go and build the Regional Headquarters close enough to benefit from the heating generated from it. The spin-off would go to good use. Let's face it. Garbage is not going to go away. Yours truly, Vernon Asselstine R.R. 2, Blackstock | Deserves chance (From page 5) Despite his impressive resume, his obvious intelligence, his desire to support himself rather than liv- ing on handouts, Welfare authorities offered him an extra $8 per month to live on if he would declare himself unemployable because he is blind. Normally, we think of people who are victimized by their own govern- ment like this as living in foreign countries run by Dictators. I am sure most people are unaware that handicapped people "had to deal with these problems. I didn't realize this myself, until I met this physically challenged person. When I learned about this, I con- tacted Marg Wilbur the NDP can- didate, she responded immediately. She seems to be one of the few peo- ple who appreciates the rights ofthe Physically & Mentally Challenged people. The question I have to ask myself is: Who Is Blind? Yours truly, Jackie Hodgins Port Perry LOTS TO DO Anyone who thinks life 1s boring around Port Perry and area sure isn't getting involved in the many activities that are taking place this summer We are just heading into summer and already there have been a couple of ball tournaments at the lakefront, and last weekend the annual Canoe the Nonquon was held If you didn't have a chance to get down to see either of these two activities there is plenty of other events coming up in the next couple of months On July 1, the Scugog Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the anpual Canada Day fireworks display behind the library. This popular event usual- ly attracts thousands to the waterfront to view a spec- tacular show. Then only a few days later. the Scugog Historical Society hold their annual Pioneer Days at the day Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten Museum This two-day show has numerous displays and events taking place that show how life was for the early settlers. It's a great outing for the family and the proceeds go towards keeping Setigog Shores Museum open ly 18. If that isn't enough excitement, then hold your breath for the second annual Bahama Festival Days which will be taking place in Port Perry on July 9 10, 11. Here you can enjoy yourself for three fun-filled . nights and days as Queen Street is turned into a Bahamas Island. Another special treat for the kids this summer will be when the Scugog Chamber of Commerce brings the Kelly Bros. Circus to towri:on Monday. August 10 for two shows. This is the second time the circus has been sponsored by the C hamber and after the success of two years ago. it promises to be a great place. ' EN Scugog boring? The circus features one of the largest circus tents in North America, many exotic animals, high wire acts and all those events you would expect to see at a great circus. Watch for details in the coming weeks. Other events that take place during the month of July are a Tractor Pull on July 3rd and 4th in Blackstock. This event is run during the evenings so when you're finished up at the Museum. it's just a quick trip over to Blackstock. Also in Blackstock this summer is a Fiddle Con- test to take place at the Rec Centre on Saturday. Ju- The summer just wouldn' t be complete without a fair, and Scugog Township is fortunate to not onjy have one, but two first-class fairs. The first of these takes place on August 29 in Blackstock, and is considered one of the best "one- day Fairs' in the area. The second fair takes place in Port Perry on the Labour Day weekend, and this fair attracts thousands through the gate. In addition to all of the events listed here, there is undoubtedly numerous morerball tournaments, concerts at the bandshell and other activities taking "No way!' Rl