The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, December 13, 1988 Editorial Comments OFF AND RUNNING It was nice to see. that Scugog Township's two reps on the Regional council, Howard Hall and Yvonne Chris- tie, were elected to the committees of their first choosing at last week's inaugural meeting of the Durham council. Hall had indicated his first preference for committee work at the Region, was on planning, while Christie had indicated a first preference for the public works commit- tee. And that is what they got. A lot of other members on the 32-strong Regional council had indicated a preference for either the plan- ning or the public works committee, so the fact that Hall and Christie were elected is an indication that already they are making their presence felt. These are two very important committee positions for the two Scugog reps. Planning at the Regional level is going to be high profile over the next couple of years. The decisions made by this committee on such things as Official Plan amendments and subdivision. approvals have a major impact on the Region. And Regional chairman Gery Herrema, at the inaugu- ral meeting, served notice that one thing he wants to do this term is set up a Task Force to target some blue chip industry for location in the Region. Herrema is quite right in his assertion that Durham is fast becoming a residential dormitory for people who work next door in Metro Toronto, and the need to broad- en and diversify the tax base in Durham is critical at this time. Presumably the planning committee will have an im- portant role to play in this Task Force. As for Christie serving on public works, there is little doubt what the main issue in front of this committee will be: garbage. Where is Durham going to put its garbage when the present dumps are full in the next 12 months or SO. That is going to be a very hot and controversial issue in the near future. The Region is expected to start identi- fying potential dump sites as early as March 1. But the Works committee has other important jurisdic- tion at the Regional level.-Sewer and water projects, for example. Here in Scugog Township, during the last municipal election campaign, there were constant references to the need to expand the local sewage lagoon capacity for fu- ture growth. If that is to happen, the initiative will have to come - : from the Works Committee, of which Christie is a mem- 'ber. Scugog's reps at Region, Hall and Christie, may be "rookies" on the Durham council, but both have been around public life long enough to understand the dynam- ics of the power plays, large and small that go on all the time. Getting elected to these committees was a good start for them, and we'll be watching as they make their way through the "jungle" of Regional politics. oom Ea oe or A 0 OOS "EITHER THE CANADIAN ELECTORATE Sos x ARE TOTALLY BLIND ... ... OR WERE MARKED MEN" D K 0 Sree , ve RROD OX) Chatterbox by CATHY OLLIFFE Port Perry Go ] % CNA STAR (=| 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO Phone 985-7383 P.0.Box90 LOB 1NO J. PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Community Newspaper Association. 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 PRuAO! AN COMMUN, y " Gon Subscription Rate: In Canada $20.00 per year. 5240000 ays0l NN 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. STAYING ALIVE I'm not the world's best driver, by any stretch of the imagination. | make mistakes, lots of mistakes, and a couple of speeding tickets testify to the fact | sometimes go faster than | should. But on the whole, | think I'm pretty good be- hind the wheel--not an expen, but | try to be conscientious. Which doesn't give me the authority to preach about driving, but this is my column, and frankly, in this space, / can preach about anything | want. So there. Lately it seems I've been inundated by boneheads on the road. People who like to drive a foot from your back bumper. People } who pass on a solid line, going up a hill, with traffic coming in the other direction. People who scare the living daylights out of you at every opportunity. | wonder, do these drivers get a kick out of frightening others on the road? Or do they simply not value their own lives, or the lives of fellow human beings? Human life is as fragile as the very air we breathe. Our veins pulse with blood, barely contained in delicate skin. It doesn't take much--a steering wheel rammed into a stom- ach, a head colliding with a windshield, a puncture wound from broken glass--to spill that lie-sustaining fluid all over the pavement, and snuff out the life of a loved one forever. One minute, it's a person driving along, a person who is loved, who has memories of the past and hope for the future--a living, breathing bundle of energy who laughs, cries, works and dreams. An instant later, a sickening crash, and time stands still, as the very life of a human being drains away. Hopes are dashed, dreams are never fulfilled, as that person with a lifetime of WeMofies becomes a memory to someone else. How sickeningly incredible it is that a person lives and then dies in so short a time. And in many cases, so needlessly. I've been at the scene of countless fatalities in my yoals as a reporter, yet | never grow har- denad to the carnage on our highways. And | will never understand how some people can justify drinking and driving. All they have to do is + 2e one bad accident, or to know someone w.0o has died at the hands of an impaired driv. r, to swear off the booze and driving combination for the rest of their lives. Fortunately, however, not everyone experi- ences tragedy first-hand. For those who ha- ven't, other means are necessary to convince them not to drink and drive. The beefed-up penalties for drinking and driving are effective deterrents, as Is the R.I.D.E. program--especially at this time of year. | A couple of Saturday nights ago, me and Doug finally had the pleasure of being $ioppad for a spot check, conducted by the O.P.P. on the causeway. | say "pleasure" be- cause it was. ' The policeman we talked to was smiling (de- spite the cold weather) and polite. He made a joke about Doug's hockey sticks in the back seat and asked if we had been Jnniing we hadn't--I'd been visiting my parents and Doug had been installing carpet all night). As he talked, his head was literally stuck in- side the driver's window, and it was pretty clear he was getting a good whiff of my hus- band's breath (luckily it wasn't mine--I'd had garlic in my dinner). Then he withdrew, handed us a booklet of money-saving coupons, and wished us a good night. The whole thing took maybe a minute and a half, and we drove away feeling plumped up with pride and good citizenship. It's great to know the police are working hard to keep our roads safe over the holiday sea- son, but they can't do everything. They can't sit beside us at Christmas parties and make sure designated drivers stay sober. That's up to us. And if human life means anything at all to us, then we'll stay sober, and drive careful- ly. Speaking of safe driving, | had a phone call from a woman last week who asked me to write about the new stop sign at the corner of Un- ion and John Streets (you know, the dreaded 'Y* intersection, south of the IGA). For those who haven't noticed, a stop sign has been placed for drivers heading north on Union Ave. and John St. To make it even more obvious, a huge "new" sign has also been posted. Despite all this, | have personal- ly witnessed one car drive straight through the stop sign, oblivious to the world. The woman who called me also reported seeing a driver go through the sign, so | imagine there are plenty of folks who are unintentionally doing the same. No one can tell you how to drive. But if you want to do so without hurting anyone, stay sober, pay attention to the hoy and follow this whimsical advice: "Don't drive as if you own the road--drive as if you own your car.