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---- ll APA oS St Ra aa li a ET SEAT gy EON ; £ Hy : 4 i 6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, February 23, 1988 This is the big year ladies! It's Leap Year and we all know what that means. An extra day this month. But it's not just an extra day of wearing your heart on your sleeve or waiting for Mr. Right. This is the year that women everywhere can real- ly assert themselves. It's the year we can step for- ward boldly and without embarrassment pop The Big Question. No, it's not 'Do you want to go Dutch?" On February 29th, a woman can ask a man to marry her. Okay, women's libbers will say that on any day in 1988 or 1989 or 1990, a woman can ask a man to marry her. Maybe so. But on any day.in 1988 or 1989 or 1990, if that man says no, all the woman gets is disappointment. Not this year. On February 29th if a woman asks a man to marry her and he says no, he has to buy her anything she wants. It's true. I know. I've tried it. And I have a rock- ing chair to show for it. Now many men may scoff and wave their hands at this. "Says who?" they'll ask after replying in the negative and being presented with a:demand notice for a pearl necklace or a bottle of French perfume. Says me and says ancient tradition. I can't quite remember where the tradition originated but it's true although very few people know about it. I had it on good authority years and years ago -- from my grandmother or someone else's. As I said, few people seem to know about this obscure but great tradition but every once in a while, you run across someone who can confirm it. If you ask a. man to marry you on Feb. 29th and he says no, he has to buy you whatever you say. Maybe somewhere centuries ago, a woman pop- ped the question and the man politely refused, but upon seeing her unending tears, tried to cheer her up with an offer of a new horse and carriage. Or maybe some enterprising woman, trying to force the issue, popped the question in the terms of a choice, hoping he'd be too cheap to buy the gift and marry her One Woman s View by Chris Carlisle instead. For example: 'Marry me or buy me the emerald necklace we saw in the jeweller's window today." The guy may have chosen the necklace as the lesser of two evils and inadvertently begun the custom. However, while it may force the man's hand in marriage, any woman contemplating its use must first decide two things. Does she really want this man to marry her and what are his chances of saying I do? If she really wants to get married -- to him -- there's no problem. If he says yes, she's all set. And if he refuses, she can always console herself with a new compact disc player compliments of the runaway Romeo. Then again, the woman might desperately need a new vacuum or have her heart set on a rocking chair like mine. : All she has to do is set her sights on a confirmed bachelor and ask him if he'll do her the honour of a stroll down the aisle. As his face drains of colour and he orders a double and he tries to politely refuse, she can merely smile and present him with the preferable alternative. Voila, brand new vacuum -- if of course the guy is a sport and a man of honour. The truth of the matter is that a really aggressive woman could amass an entire trousseau without even a hint at vows by asking a dozen men to visit city hall. Obviously, there is great danger in this little tradition if taken lightly. If could easily backfire. If the guy says yes and you want him, all well and fine, but if he says yes and you were really after a new gold watch, watch out yourself. You'll be stuck with a fiance you had no intention of marrying and you'll be stuck with having to break his heart by reneging. It can also get complicated. The guy might hedge | or try to get away with a cowardly "I'll think about it and get back to you later." Don't fall for this trick. It's a diamond ring or a new ten speed. No promissory notes, please. Ladies, start your engines! And men beware! Letters Making the choice? To The Editor: I have followed the letters re:- the abortion issue and feel I must respond to a pro-life letter from D. Richards which seems to express the preference for no life over that of an unwanted and abused child. I was such a child, was removed from my parents at age 5S by "Children's Aid", lived for a year in an orphanage, was adopted, overcame the emotional damage of this past and memories and feel | have become a happy, well adjust- ed, and successful person. I have met several women with similar backgrounds and they also have a gratitude for life. None of us have ever wished to have never been born. How can we make such a choice for a future person? I'm glad abor- tion was not an option in 1946. L. Shewan Port Perry Need affordable lots To The Editor: I would request this opportuni- ty to enlarge on some items in your recent report on a subdivi- sion for low cost building lots and affordable homes (Feb. 16 issue- Star). Our company has owned this property for some nineteen years -- it was always our intention to develop it. Our present plan con- ceives of developing housing lots on the back half of the property near the wooded area on the high ground. The front half which is near the main Oshawa-Port Perry road will be a tree farm as has been the progress for the last four years. In wishing to establish. affor- dable building lots our objective is to create a development not of impressive estate type homes. It is our objective to create a development of starter homes for young people just starting out, keeping their cost to a minimum. The end price of the house should be one third less than the lowest price of a new home anywhere in Scugog. This will mean a great saving in interest payments over the coming years for these young families. I feel this is vitally im- portant so that our young people are not burdened down with debt in their formative years and for no real reason. The structure of our co-op will be made up of people who want to build a modest home. The cost of the land will be approximately sixteen thousand dollars. In addi- tion to that, each owner will be re- quired to pay approximately nine thousand dollars for road and (Turn to page 8) Respect for life (From page 5) not in the children but in the situ- ation. Here, we can help by pro- viding relief and support. "Getting rid of" the baby is not an acepta- ble solution. Human life is sacred and beauti- ful from conception until natural death and as soon as our society 'sees this, the level of abuse will drop dramatically. Elizabeth Connell Age 14 Port Perry Random Jottings ¢ by J. Peter Hvidsten TIMES HAVE CHANGED LOOKING FOR HISTORY Last week we featured an article in the Star about one of this communities long-time, well re- spected residents, John Sweetman,and comments about the feature article have been very positive. In fact, there are many who feel that we should do more features of this type, and we have already been given a few names to pursue. Well, just so we get a bit of credit before some- one says "we told you so", that was our intention when we interviewed Mr. Sweetman recently. There are a lot of elderly people in this commu- nity who have a wealth of knowledge about the his- tory of the area locked in their heads, and we want to get some of this down on paper. It was thanks to articles written by the late pub- lisher of the Star, Samuel Farmer, and one of Port Perry's first settlers, Joseph Bigelow that we do have a good idea about what it was like around Port Perry and area prior to the turn of the century. Now we are not going to promise we will inter- view everyone whose name is submitted to the Star, but if you know someone that is in good health, has a vivid memory, is over 80 years of age, and would like to reminise about the "old days" with us, drop us a line and we will keep their names on file for future articles. While speaking about the history of the area, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the pur- chase of the Port Perry Star by my mother and fa- ther, Per and Leila Hvidsten. That anniversary does not take place until later in the year, but we have started working towards a special supplement dedicated to that anniversary. This supplement will include a history of the Port Perry Star dating back to 1866, and will in- clude articles out of old newspapers, photographs of Port Perry past and present and many other his- torical items of interest. If you have any photographs, or information in regards to the buil ng of Port Perry back in the 1800's and early 1900's and would like to share them in this issue, we would like to see them. Photographs loaned to the Star will be immedi- ately copied and returned to the owners so nothing will get lost. The more old photos we have the more interesting the special issue will be to the resi- dents of the area. Any residents, or former residents of the com- munity, are invited to write letters to the Star in re- gards to the history of Port Perry. If you remember some,good old times you'd like to share, or remem- ber what it was like to live at the turn of the century in Port Perry, write us a letter and we will include it in he omation being complied for this edition of the Star. At this point we are looking for anything, so even if you think the information you have is insig- nificant, jot it down and send it to: PORT PERRY STAR 25th Anniversary Edition P.O. Box 90, Port Perry, Ontario LOB 1NO Just to give an example of how times have changed in the newspaper business since the 1800's the following article appeared in "The Onta- rio Observer - January 13, 1870. The story was writ- ten by editor James Baird after a three week battle of words between the Observer of Prince Albert, Ontario and Edward Mundy of the Port Perry Stan- dard. THE ANONYMOUS EDITORS OF THE PORT PERRY STANDARD "The combination of worthless, anonymous old gran- nies who edit the Port Perry Standard, have been giving their few readers another dose of their mutual impu- dence. - The score who have seen the Standard of last week will perceive that the unscrupulous crones have waged war to the knife against the most honorable pro- fession in the country - the farmer and the school teacher - and seemed determied to carry it to the bitter end. The anonymouss scribblers who edit the Standard, di- vide themselves into two classes - Those who make poor Mundy father their trash, and those who adopt the most equally cowardly practice of scribbling under a mask, and Satan like, assume some ostentatious nom de plume. Of course no one blames Mundy as everyone knows that he is utterly incapable of putting a dozen words to- gether, and consequently no one blames him for anyth- ing that appears in the Standard. This is just a small sample of the interesting arti- cles that will be among the pages of the Stars spe- cial 25th Anniversary Edition in September 1988.