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6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, August 9, 1988 Editorial Comments CHANGING TIMES To say that the face of Scugog Township council will be markedly changed following the November municipal elections would be something of an understatement. Present Mayor Jerry Taylor has already declared that he will not be seeking re-election, and now Regional councillor Lawrence Malcolm has announced that he too will be retiring from municipal politics. Local political observers have been speculating for some time about what councillor Malcolm's future plans might be. Some thought he just might take one more shot at the Mayor's chair. But after 30 years a municipal coun- cillor, reeve and mayor, he's decided to retire now, on his terms, not the whim of a fickle electorate. And who can blame him. Thirty years is a long time. With both the Mayor and councillor Malcolm retiring, there will be a whole new look at the council table. Al ready, there are several declared candidates for the Mayor's chair, and no doubt there will soon be candi- dates announcing their intention to seek the Regional seat. Some of these are current ward reps on council, so there likely will be several openings at this level come the November elections. It is only early August, but the amount of interest building for the up-coming elections is greater than any that we can recall. We are going to miss councillor's Malcolm presence around the chambers. Nobody knows the municipal pro- cess better than he does. He has learned over his 30 years in local government that quick, spur of the moment decisions have a habit of coming back to haunt. There are always two, three or more sides to every issue, and as he told the Star in an interview last week "I'm always very wary of the pitfalls. I've seen enough of them." If there is one word that might best describe his style, it would be cautious. He is certainly not flamboyant in the typical political meaning of the word. He likes to work quietly, and it's fair to say that more often than not, he is successful in bringing his fellow councillors to his posi- tion on issues large and small. Lawrence Malcolm knows his electorate. He knows the ins and outs of small town politics, though maybe not so well these days as in past years because of the re- markable change in demographics in Scugog over the last half-decade. Just look at his record. Nine election victories, four ac- clamations and just two defeats at the polls in a 30-year career. As is his nature, the decision to retire was not one made in haste. It would not have surprised us had he an- nounced that he would run another term. But in retro- spect, his decision to get out now is a sound one. He's leaving office on his terms, he's had 30 years of local politics, and at age 70 (almost) he obviously wants some time to do a little travelling and puttering in the garden. He's earned it. As we said before, he's going to be missed for the quiet, cautious, common-sense approach to local issues. il! { ih NY ) Port Perry STAR 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO Phone 985-7383 P.0.Box90 LOB 1NO J. PETER HVIDSTEN (= CNA OO) 1 ! | > i Member of the Publisher Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Community Newspaper Association. Advertising 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 for cash CATHY OLLIFFE payment of postage in cash. News & Features Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Ras 14 > (@ONA 45 subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year. 4 - $ Pot 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 puvlisher. Chatterbox by Cathy Olliffe FORTY POUNDS AGO | couldn't remember the last time | weighed myself. It was well over a year agu, maybe two, maybe more. | knew I'd gained some, a lot, probably, due to the way none of my clothes fit any more. And | was unable to find anything that fit me in most stores. Shopping was a dis- mal experience--all those full-length mirrors in dressing rooms, all those skinny salespeople, all those sweaty attempts to wiggle into jeans that were far too small. For the first time in my life, | began thinking of myself as a fat person. Not just plump, but downright fat. It wasn't a happy self-image to carry around, but it was the truth. Still, | didn't do anything about the problem. Infact, | didn't even think it was a problem. | ate what | wanted, did what | wanted, and snidely looked down my nose at women who con- stantly fretted and worried about their weight. Until Wednesday April 20. A co-worker here at the Star talked me into going over to Queen Street's Weight Coun- selling Centre, and frankly, | don't remember why | went. But go |did, and the first thing the nurse at the centre did was put me on the scales. She read out my weight, and | nearly fainted. Literally, my head swam. Nausea swept through me like a black wave. | couldn't be- lieve how heavy | was. In shock, | signed up to lose 60 pounds. Never before had | possessed such motiva- tion to shed fat. And never before had | ever succeeded in losing more than a couple of pounds. But the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach at how obese | had actually become, stayed with me--and still is with me, nearly four months later. At first, the diet was so easy. Chicken, vege- tables, fruit, minimal starch, and eight glasses of water every day saw me lose six pounds in the first four days. By May 6 I'd lost 14 pounds. By May 20--exactly a month since | signed up, I'd lost an incredible 22 pounds. | say "incredible" because I've never been able to lose before. But suddenly, | was los- ing, rarely cheating, and not missing junk food hardly at all--l was so incredibly determined. Two months after | started, | was down 33 pounds--and that's when people around me really started to notice the change. My husband's boss was the first person to comment--and | could have kissed him. As | continued to lose, more people noticed, until | couldn't go anywhere without somebody say- ing something. My old clothes started to hang on me. A pair of jeans I'd bought a week before | started dieting, can now slide off without being un- done. Clothes | hadn't worn since high school now fit on the baggy side. I'd lost eight inches off my waist and dropped five dress sizes. Looking at myself in a mirror, | wondered where all that fat went to--not that I'm skinny or anything--I still want to lose another 20 pounds--but with 40 pounds gone, | look and feel like a different person. I've got a lot more energy, a ton of self- confidence, and | don't get as easily de- pressed as | did before. My husband is my big- gest fan--he's so darn proud, sometimes | think he's going to burst. All the attention | get is great, but the best thing about losing weight is shopping. | used to dread clothing stores, but now | can breeze into any of them, knowing I'm going to find things in my size. But enough about me--there's someone else in my family who has lost a substantial amount of weight--my Mom, who has shed 53 pounds in the same time I've lost 40. Actually, she started a day before | did, on a much more rigourous diet. Whereas | con- sumed 1,000 calories a day, Mom was limited to 500. | weighed in twice a week while Mom was weighed every day. She even suffered through a needle at every weigh-in--vitamin shots (she went to a different place altogeth- er, one in Stouffville). And while she hated every moment of the diet, her efforts paid off. And how. I've never seen my mother look so good. She's bought herself all kinds of new clothes, she's had her hair cut, she's tanned, and she looks like a mil- lion bucks. And like me, she's determined to keep off the weight she lost. Of course, I'm not finished dieting yet. | still want to lose that last 20 pounds, although it's getting harder and harder. The problem is, I'm pretty happy at my weight right now, a little too content. I've been cheating here and there lately, and while I'm not gaining, I'm not losing as fast as | once was. But | know | will lose it. | have no doubts. And when | do, I'll be the slimmest I've ever been since, oh, about public school. That's when I'll buy a bikini. Watch out world!