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I I iE HN, Ey I HH XH HH A Hr uy 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, August 18, 1987 Editorial Comments Right On! In the course of a year, the Port Perry Star prints hundreds of letters from our readers. One of the more succinct letters to the editor we have received in quite a while appears on page five of the paper you are reading. It concerns the need for an advanced flashing green light at the intersection of Highway 7A and Lilla Street. An advanced green at this intersection is a marvellous idea. How many people reading this column right now have tried to make a left turn off Highway 7A to head down the Oshawa Road, only to find themselves [facing a steady stream of eastbound traffic whizzing through the intersection? How many of you finally had to "take a chance" and cut across the traffic or wait til the light turns from amber to red before making the left turn? It should not require any great feat of technological dexterity to have the provincial highways department change the lights to pro- vide for an advanced green. After all, as our letter writer this week points out, further west at the infamous 'beer store intersection' there is an advanced green which greatly helps speed the flow of traffic and makes the intersec- tion much safer. : : The flow of traffic along Highway 7A through the village of Port Perry is increasing all the time. We know of many local residents who actually go out of their way to avoid the highway, especially on a Fri- day or Sunday evening and especially on holiday weekends during the summer months. We understand the provincial highways department has been conducting traffic counts along 7A this past summer. It will be in- teresting to see just what the studies turned up. Let's hope that some changes are made in several points along the highway in Port Perry, like advanced flashing green at the intersection of two of the busiest thoroughfares in all of Scugog Township. Are They Kidding? 'The cause of native Indian rights in Canada was handed a set- back last week when four Chiefs from Saskatchewan journeyed to South Africa to sound off about the treatment of Indians in this coun- try and to take a jab or two over Canadian policy and criticism directed at South Africa. No reasonable Canadian can ever suggest that the historical treatment of native people in Canada is something to be proud of. It's not. But accepting an all expense paid invitation from the South Africa tourist department to publicize the plight of natives in Canada is nothing short of a cheap stunt. The fact that the visit by the four Chiefs happened to fall at the same time as External Aftairs Minister Joe Clark was also in South Africa was no accident. : The south African regime is blatantly racist in its treatment of 20 million blacks who are herded into ghettos, forced to toil for poor wages in often sub-human conditions. They are denied access to all levels of government, better schools and universities, told where to live and when they can be out on the street. They are even denied such fundamental rights as the polling station. Canadian Indians have not had the fairest of shakes over the centuries here, but by no stretch of the imagination are they denied such basic human rights as those denied the blacks in South Africa. For the four Chiefs to allow themselves to be dupes of a racist government in South Africa just to score a few points is unworthy of the positions they hold and the heritage of which they are so proud. Maybe those four would prefer to stay on in South Africa and Port Perry STAR really find out what life is like for non-whites there. (+ CNA (aR Cn | 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO iii Phone 985-7383 P.O Box90 LOB 1NO J. PETER HVIDSTEN Member of the Publisher Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ps and Ontario Community Newspaper Association A ANC SS dliQ - dvertising Manager Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co Ltd Port Perry Ontario J.B. McCLELLAND Editor Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department. Ottawa. and tor cash CATHY OLLIFFE payment of postage in cash News & Features EET Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Cn LS) Aria a0y0 Sm Subscription Rate In Canada $20 00 per year: Elsewhere $60 00 per year Single Copy 50° COPYRIGHT -- All layout and composition of advertisements produced by the adver tising department of the Port Perry Star Company Limited are protected under copyright and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher YES, ON SOME TRIPS, NO NEED JO BUCKLE UP | Chatterbox by Cathy Olliffe TAKE IT EASY Here goes. Yet another column about drivers. If you're sick of hearing me rattle on about the perils of our highways, flip-over to John B.'s column. If you feel like hearing me rant and rave, by all means, dig in. Listen, I love my weekends just as much as everybody else, and I don't blame city folks for wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the big smoke as fast as possible on Friday nights. But I do get upset, really upset, when I see foolhardy motorists making a beeline across Highway 7A, with no regard to their own safety, that of their passengers or of other people using the road. Anybody who has ever travelled 7A on a Fri- day night (or a Sunday night for that matter), knows exactly what I'm talking about. Traffic is backed up in a solid line east and west of Port Perry. A solid line. I mean, there's nowhere for these cars to go. Playing follow the leader is the name of the game here. Or at least it should be. Despite the fact that there are cars up ahead for as far as the eye can see, there's always one or two bozos who feel they must get ahead. So intent are they in getting to the cottage (or the trailer, or whatever), that they attempt to pass five, six or more vehicles at one time. Regardless of any cars coming the other direction. ' A couple Friday nights ago, Doug and I had to head into the city. A friend's mom was undergo- ing surgery, so we felt we should be there while he waited the operation out. Otherwise, we never would have set foot on the highways on a Friday evening. We hadn't gone too far, just past the Esso sta- tion on 7A, when the first incident happened. Up ahead, we watched with bated breath as an eastbound car, heading towards us in our lane, battled to complete a pass. The car made it, with barely comfortable room to spare. But before we could breathe a sigh of relief, we saw the pick-up truck, which had been behind the car, also passing. The truck was less than four car-lengths away, its lights shining into our windshield like spotlights. It must have been doing at least 100 clicks, and in a split-second, we realized nobody was going to lef it back in its own lane. + We weren'f going to make it. I didn't even have time to scream. With less than a second to spare, Doug threw the wheel to the right. The car lurched sharply to the shoulder, gravel spraying up like fine moist. As my head snapped back against the seat, the pick-up truck blew by. Still in our lane. We sat there for a few moments, not saying anything. The only sounds were the continuous hum of traffic and the jack-hammer thumping in our chests. Eventually, we resumed our journey, believ- ing it would be the only such incident of the even- ing. We were mistaken, of course. On the way in- to the city, different variations of the same inci- dent (but not quite as close) happened twice. The trip home wasn't much different. Coming out of Port Perry, heading east on 7A, a car breezed by us. As the old expression goes, we thought nothing of it. A few minutes later, a pick-up truck passed us. No big deal. Up ahead, we watched as the pick-up truck tried to pass the car that had passed us. In- terestingly enough, the truck had a tough time passing the car, and had just succeeded in doing so at the bend of a sharp curve. Knowing he was going too fast to make the curve, he braked -- as soon as he was in front of the car he had just passed. Well, the car wasted no time in passing the truck, promptly putting its brakes on. The truck, hanging within inches of the car's tail end, tried to do the same thing, but the car wouldn't let it. So across 7A they went, speeding dangerously, within inches of each other, swerving back and forth across the highway. If this had of been L.A. instead of Port Perry, somebody probably would have been shot. As it was, the truck turned off into Caesarea, and the car kept going. We followed the truck, by this time, a few minutes behind. I'm not sure what happened next, whether it was a coincidence, or a set-up. The Caesarea road, in parts, was covered with thick fog. Doug slowed down when he hit it (he wasn't driving very fast anyways, following the first incident], arid was peering out the wind- shield when he swore abruptly and swung the car to the left, narrowly missing the back end of a pick-up truck ---- partly on the'shoulder and part- ly on the road, in the middle of the fog. As soon as we were clear, the truck jum back on the road, uncomfortably close to our Jack bumper. Within a couple of seconds, fortundtely, the truck backed off, and we drove the restyf th way home in peace. Was it a coincidence, or was that the samé truck which had been part of the fracas back on 7A? And if it was the same truck, was it laying in wait for the car it had been involved with, or was it merely pulled over on the shoulder for another reason? [don't know, but I do know one thing for sure ---- that Friday night was the most terrifying night in a car I had ever spent. (Turn to page 6)